The Wife of the Akwa Ibom Governor, Mrs Martha Emmanuel, has said that Shelter of Hope, a project of her Family Empowerment & Youth Re-Orientation Programme (FEYReP) was not meant for widows alone.
Emmanuel who disclosed this to the leadership of the Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom Council during an interaction with her in Government House Uyo yesterday.
She said that widows, widowers and indigent families, without religious or political bias across the have benefited from the shelter of hope project.
The wife of the governor said the programme was initiated to ameliorate the sufferings of widows and indigent families, who could not afford a decent accommodation.
On the criteria for selection of beneficiaries, she said that apart from physical assessment of the need of the prospective beneficiaries, she allowed the holy spirit to direct her.
“This is another programme that is also dear to me. I was moved to start this Shelter of Hope because I go into communities and I see things with my eyes that was how I started it.
“You talked about choice how do we select? In order for it not to be abused by people around me, that is my staff, not to bring his/her relatives and friends.
“If I’m going to a particular LGA, I’ll send them out to the communities, snap different pictures, bring them back to me, so when they bring them back to me. I’ll look at them and will be led by the Holy Spirit to choose and whoever I choose, no matter who is there whether APC, PDP, anyone, that is it. I don’t care where the person is from.
She explained why some beneficiaries who were not widows benefitted from the scheme.
“So that man with 12 children was just fortunate to have been selected, imagine living with 12 children in a hut, grown up children. So, it was pathetic. I didn’t even know when I chose him. But God showed up for him.
“There is another one with 14 children, not exaggeration, they are all there, when I picked the house I didn’t know about all these. Though we’ve done a lot for the widows and for the indigent ones in the society,” Emmanuel said
The Governor’s wife has so far built and furnished over 24 bungalows for widows, widowers and indigent ones across the state under the shelter of hope scheme.
