*Marks 20th Anniversary of Rochas Foundation
Imo State Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has
declared that he remains a wealthy man as long as he continues to give to the
poor.
He made this revelation at the weekend when he
marked the 20th anniversary of Rochas Foundation in Owerri, Imo State capital.
Okorocha stated that giving, especially to the
less-privileged, has made him rich instead of making him poor, adding that the
more he gives, the more he gets.
“Let me make a confession. Giving has not made me
poor. Giving has rather made me rich. So I stand bold to say today that I am a
wealthy man. And let no one envy me because you may be envying the God that
created me. The more I give, the more I get and no one can stop me from giving.
And I have transferred the spirit of giving to my children. First, to my wife
who has never stopped building houses for indigent widows and has built over
270 houses to that effect,” he said.
According to the governor, “20 years ago, no one
would believe that these thousands of children would have been the
beneficiaries of this foundation. Most of you do not know what propelled me
into doing this. It is a contractual agreement which I signed with my creator
out of the hardship and difficulties of life that I went through. In the course
of prayers, I told God Almighty that in any way He blessed me, I will bless
others and in any way you give me, I will share with those who do not have.
That was my submission to God Almighty.”
Okorocha who expressed excitement, chorused: “Today,
crazy as I am, in my ideas and thoughts, I have extended Rochas Foundation to
Africa. I’m in a hurry because I will not live in this world forever. I could
be in pain when I must have passed through this world and still having a lot of
children of Africa not educated because opportunity is not provided for them. I
will not sleep well neither will I depart this world until every child in
Africa finds a classroom to go into.
“As I do this, I have only managed to take about
17,000 children. We enroll about 1,000 children yearly, but that is not enough,
it’s like a drop of water in the ocean. So, this day is not just a celebration,
it is a wakeup call on all government officials and all those in any form of
power or authority and those who have been given privilege of life of wealth to
help those who do not have.
“I don’t know the economic problem we suffer today
or the HIV or the cancer we go through today or the Ebola of yesterday; I don’t
know who will find the solution. It might be that rejected and dejected child
in the village whose parents are no longer alive. Let every child be given a
chance to go to school. Today is a clarion call for volunteerism, and I want to
request all the ambassadors to please sign up as volunteers. Identify a child
anywhere in Africa and create opportunity for Rochas Foundation to meet with
the child. We might not put him in our schools, but we may plead with others
schools to accept them. We want to become the bridge between the haves and the
haven’ts. If only education will be made free, Africa would be a better society."
The governor, while appreciating his contributions
to the society, stated: “The biggest problem of Africa is not hunger, it is
illiteracy. So, join me today as I launch Rochas Foundation vision 2050 to take
one million African children especially those who have no food to eat and give
them education. If it could be done in 2030, we could have made an attempt in
solving Africa’s biggest problem.”
Six ambassadors of United Nations who attended the
event were Australian High Commissioner, Ambassador Paul Lehmann; Pakistan High
Commissioner, Asim Ali Khan; South-Sudan High Commissioner, Paul .M. Akaro;
Gambia High Commissioner, Amadron Sherkh Oumar; Guinea High Commissioner,
Gaousson Toure, and Liberia High Commissioner, Prof. Alhassan Conte.
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