In the spirit of giving back to the society and to ameliorate the negative impact of the recent coronavirus pandemic on the people, Felix King Foundation, a pan-African non-for-profit organisation with interest in the development, empowerment and prosperity of women in Africa has announced a relief fund of N25 million to support widows and poor women in select rural communities in Edo and Lagos States.

The fund christened ‘Resurrection Funds’, is established by the foundation to help women overcome difficulties as the states move to complete lockdown to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic currently ravaging the globe.

According to the founder/president of the Foundation, Dr. Felix King Eiremiokhae, the fund is to help the women in these difficult times and to support them during the Easter period. “There is no time better to lift our women than this Easter period – which is the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” he stated.

The Foundation, which recently supported the effort of the Edo State government in combating the spread of the Coronavirus, donated thousands of bars of safeguard antiseptic soap to rural communities in the state. He said, “After making a donation of soaps to support the effort of Edo state government in combating the spread of Coronavirus in rural communities, Felix King Foundation has further set aside N25million to support widows and poor women in selected rural communities in Edo, Lagos and Ogun states.”

Dr. Eiremiokhae who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Oracle Experience, one of Nigeria’s foremost BTL agencies, stated that the palliative will be distributed to these rural women in the coming days to ameliorate the suffering of “these helpless but industrious women, who can no longer sell their market and engage in other daily income activities. The impact of the lockdown is impacting negatively on these women as most of them rely on daily earning to survive.

“The fund is tagged ‘resurrection funds’ because of the season we are in and the relief fund is meant to help them have food on their table during this Easter and beyond. Our focus here are these categories of women, because they are always the forgotten one.”

Each woman is expected to get 10,000 Naira each. On the distribution of the funds, Dr. Eiremiokhae emphasised that since the foundation has had an existing relationship with most of these women groups and widows across these states with a reliable data, the distribution will be easy. The foundation’s audacious ambition to reach and empower 36,000 women by 2029 has seen a steady rise in the development and prosperity of rural women and widows in communities where the foundation’s work has been profound. It will be recalled that the foundation’s inaugural Startups Africa, which should have taken place in Lagos between March 27 & 28, 2020, was postponed due to the ravaging Coronavirus pandemic with a new date to be announced soon.