The First Lady of Delta State and Founder of the @O5Initiative, Dame Edith Okowa, alongside the O5 Initiative team commissioned a borehole water project for the residents of Obioma Camp in Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State.
The commissioning of the borehole project at the Obioma camp is coming days after Dame Edith Okowa had made a promise to provide safe drinking water for the residents of that community during a previous visit to the camp on the 5th of September 2021.
While commissioning the borehole project which she also drank from, she said: “supporting the most vulnerable in our communities with access to safe drinking water has always been a concern to the O5 Initiative,” she said.
What Is The O5 Initiative All About?
Dame Edith Okowa floated the 05 Initiative in 2015 as a way of reaching to the orphans, those in prison and some medically challenged persons.
She called it the ‘O5 initiative’ which is a name derived from the first letter of her family name, 05 Programme projects a five–fold agenda – “to feed the hungry and thirsty, clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the prisoners and help the sick”
Mrs Okowa explains the vision and mission of the 05 Initiative: ‘ So my project, 05 Initiative, is neither a political concept nor a subtle social strategy to “belong“. It is not a veiled attempt to impress anyone, it is rather a divine mandate that is rooted in the scriptures and epitomizes godly love and care. In driving this vision, transparency and accountability are imperatives. Hence we had to set up a Board of Trustees to superintend the operations of the non-governmental organization. Again we have been careful not to neglect or negate any aspect of the five-fold mandate.
In other words, we have been guided and will continue to ensure that all our activities are geared towards either feeding or quenching the thirst of the hungry, ministering to the sick, accommodating the homeless, visiting the prisoner or clothing the naked. This vision came with a corresponding passion to drive it.
Though current economic indices make every form of charity and philanthropy challenging, yet passion and compassion for the less privileged kept tugging at my consciousness and compelling me to do something to cushion the pains of this class of people.
Thus the focus of the programme is to extend a hand of fellowship to those in prison by giving them drugs, providing boreholes for them and constant visits and spreading the gospel to the inmates and the need to be of good behaviour. In the area of health care, the pet project saw to the equipping of sickle clinics at the hospitals in Agbor, Sapele and Ughelli. There is also the visit to orphanage homes across the state and providing them with food, clothes and medicine,” she said.