Norgem Noilers, a charitable organisation, has empowered over 120 Catholic women in Owerri Archdiocese in Imo with about 1000 Nolier birds and poultry feeds to uplift their standard of living.
Mrs Norma Nwoga, the National Coordinator of the organisation, distributed the poultry products to the Catholic Christian women at Villa Mariae Catholic Centre, Owerri, on Monday.
She said the programme was in partnership with Norgem (Nig.) Limited.
Nwoga said Norgem Noilers was initiated into empowering rural and indigent women in Imo with poultry and poultry products to enable them start up poultry business to improve their livelihood and be self-reliant.
She said Nigerian women needed to be empowered financially to measure up with their counterparts and meet up with the current economic realities and challenges of the time.
“This is a humanitarian gesture geared towards raising the status of the rural women in Nigeria.
“These women, on a closer look, seem to be abandoned. This gesture is, therefore, a way to give the womanhood a lift and succour. It is a way of removing idleness from the life of women in the rural areas.
“Our organisation has had similar programmes in some LGAs in Imo and still counting, but this was attracted by the Father of the Catholic Church in Owerri, ArchBishop Anthony Obinna.
“He knows that when a woman is empowered, the nation is empowered and by extension the Church.
“Each of the over 120 women are expected to go home with seven Nolier birds which are already five weeks old.
“They are expected to grow a poutry business from what they are given. The aim is to provide them with protein, income and satisfaction,” she said.
The Norgem Noilers coordinator said that many women, who had benefitted from the gesture, had improved their living condition through growing the birds, which she said, were products of Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery Ltd.
“Noiler bird is a dual purpose breed – a combination of local and foreign chicken developed in Nigeria by Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery.
“Noiler bird has a high surviving and productivity rate,” Nwoga said.
Mrs Fausta Madu, the President of Owerri Archdiocese Catholic Women Organisation (OACWO), expressed gratitude to Nwoga for allowing herself to be used by God to touch the lives of women in Imo.
She also thanked the Owerri Archdiocesan Bishop, Arch Bishop Obinna, for attracting the gesture to the catholic women and asked God to continue to bless and use him in his vineyard.
Madu advised the women to seize the opportunity and put the birds to profitable use to uplift their standard of living.
“I encourage the women to nurture the birds, give them proper care and attention, treat them specially as they would a child in order to derive all the benefits,” she said.
Madu said that the beneficiaries were indigent women drawn from 170 parishes in the Owerri Catholic Arcdiocese of Imo.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the beneficiaries commended the organisers of the programme which they said would improve their living condition.
Some of the women said they had the intention of starting poultry business, but did not know how to go about it and lacked the capital, but were glad to have received the knowledge, the birds and feeds free of charge.
Mrs Blessing Emerenini, one of the beneficiaries from CKC Parish Zone 4, Mbaitoli Local Government area, expressed gratitude for the empowerment and urged the organisation not to relent.
“I have always had the vision to be engaged in poultry business, but have no means to kick start it. But today, I can proudly start a poultry business and I thank God for this,” she said.
Mrs Agnes Ajoku from St Pauls Catholic Parish, Umualum Nekede Owerri West and Mrs Stella Marris from Holy Family Parish, Irette, were also full of thanks to the organisers.
They promised that the birds would not be wasted, but nurtured to get the full benefits.
