Kukah Centre warns: Widespread poverty threat to peaceful co-existence
The Kukah Centre, founded by the Rev. Fr. Hassan Kukah, has decried widespread poverty, which, it says, is literally an issue in every community.
The centre noted that the government cannot be left to tackle it alone
The centre regretted that the prevalent and widespread endemic poverty in the country was a threat to peaceful co-existence, religious tolerance and social cohesion.
Executive Director, Kukah Centre, Father Attah Barkindo, stated this in Yola during the presentation of empowerment kits to 100 beneficiaries trained in eight different skills that include beauty and make up; making of household items like liquid soap, shampoo and vaseline jelly; baking and confectioneries, shoe making, fish farming and tailoring from Wuro-Jabbe community.
The ultimate purpose of the centre for selecting Wuro-jabbe, he said, was to render assistance to Wuro-jabbe community, by supporting the government programmes to achieve peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance, “because government alone cannot just do everything.”
“If you go across this country, from Enugu, Bayelsa, Kano, Jigawa, Kebbi, Borno and Yobe states, literally, every part of this country, people have issues of poverty and neglect, dispossession, and complete lack.
“Very high level of unemployment, particularly among young people; but emerging trend now, globally, and in the world is that no community can sit and wait for the government to do everything.
“Through this project, we want to achieve two things: that in Wuro-Jabbe, there’s peaceful coexistence; there’s religious tolerance.
“For a community like Wuro-Jabbe, you don’t come and teach and just go away and leave people in the same endemic poverty. It is always important to tackle the issues of poverty.”
Hajara Waziri, Project manager, Kukah Centre, said it got funding support from Caritas Germany for the project, adding that beneficiarieswould be expected to also contribute from proceeds of their trade towards the construction of a hospital facility by the Kukah Centre. Punch
