The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most. Rev. (DR) Alfred Adewale Martins has revealed that no fewer than 15 million persons have benefited from the humanitarian works of Caritas Nigeria, since its inception 14 years ago.
Adewale-Martins, at a Press Conference to herald activities to mark the Caritas Nigeria Day and its 14th anniversary also vowed that the Church would not relent in its effort to bring succour to the most venerable in society.
The conference was held at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos and it appraised the organisation’s activities.
The Caritas Nigeria was formed at the instance of the Catholic Bishop Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in 2010, in line with its international body to render humanitarian works for the Church.
Its Day and anniversary celebration is slated for Sunday, September 22, with the theme “Giving Back to the Community”.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Caritas Nigeria had extended monetary support to the recent Maiduguri, Borno flooding victims. It is executing pro-life projects of skills acquisition, agriculture inputs supply, and offering of start-up kits to people in Badagry, Ikorodu, Epe in Lagos, and selected communities in Ekiti State.
Archbishop Martins said that, with the subsisting economic challenges in the land, the anniversary would afford the church time to appraise the works of its charity arm to increase service delivery and impact more people.
“We celebrate not just the impact that Caritas Nigeria has made on the communities but the love, support and strength of these communities that has been pivotal to the success of the mission which is to bring lasting joy and hope to the most venerable in society.
“Since inception 14 years ago Caritas Nigeria has implemented over 65 humanitarian projects that includes: Emergency response and humanitarian services, health, good governance, agriculture and livelihoods, protection and migration, environment, education and institutional capacity strengthening.
“Through these interventions, Caritas Nigeria has reached no fewer than 15 million beneficiaries with diverse services across communities in Nigeria.
“10 million people have been supported with HIV testing and counseling services, TB diagnosis and treatment,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary, of Caritas Nigeria, Rev. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, said that the agency’s projects were the outcomes of communities’ needs assessment conducted by the body in partnership with the persons from the communities.
Obodoechina, who stressed Caritas focus on meeting the needs of persons in the rural communities where its programmes were executed, said that the body has a monitoring team to ensure beneficiaries use items and business start-up kits offered to them after trainings for the purpose they were given.
The agency’s boss noted that there were many areas of need of the people and communities the organisation would like to reach but scarce resources hindered it.
He called for individual, corporate, and state support to enable the organisation to accommodate more people in its scheme.
He said that the management of the humanitarian organisation has continued to meet the expectations of the donors with its prudent application of the funds.
He thanked the CBCN for their foresight in establishing the organisation and commended the Conrad Hilton Foundation U.S. for their financial support.
