The Okpebe Autonomous Community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State, has supported no fewer than 200 indigent households in the area with cash palliatives.
Mr Charles Ngene, the President General of the community, made the disclosure on Sunday at the inauguration of the first phase of the cash transfers to the beneficiaries.
Ngene said that the intervention was to cushion economic hardship arising from the COVID-19 pandemic among vulnerable households in the area.
READ ALSO :COVID-19: Abia Govt. Orders Mandatory Tests for Executive Council Members, Others
The community’s president, who said that the first beneficiaries were in Ezinato and Umuoha villages, added that well-meaning sons and daughters of the community contributed the money.
Ngene said that the community discovered that the beneficiaries were not able to fend for themselves during the lockdown, even when the Local Government Chairman donated food items to some people.
A member of the planning committee, Prof. Osita Ogbu, said that they were sharing N600,000 to 200 indigent households in the first phase, adding that each beneficiary in a household would receive N3,000.
Responding, one of the beneficiaries, Mrs Ngozi Ede, said that it had been difficult for her family to eat well since the lockdown began.
“I was busy thinking of what my family will eat tomorrow, not knowing that this opportunity will come,” she said.
Other beneficiaries, including Mr Friday Nwobodo and Mrs Promise Ani, thanked the members of the autonomous community for the kind gesture.