From time immemorial, poverty had always existed among communities and individuals and the phenomenon is as old as the world itself.
To this effect, government at all levels, affluent individuals and groups have always made efforts to alleviate poverty among the people. One of such renowned groups is RURCON, an acronym for Rural Development Counsellors for Christian Churches in Nigeria.
RURCON is an internationally- recognised faith-based organisation working round the clock to better the lives of the indigent citizens of Nigeria. It has been doing this great, God-sent job for close to six decades and diligent in discharging its responsibilities.
The organisation is certainly being led by a pack of pious and committed citizens, with a motherly and Godly personality, Mrs Dinatu Ayinzat holding sway as its executive director assisted by another pious mother, Mrs Florence Uwamhenmhen, director of administration and logistics, aka ‘Mama RURCON’.
Tuesday, October 29, 2024 would remain epochal in the minds of some indigents in Kaduna state as it was on that epochal day that RURCON extended its widow’s mite to them by doling out a whopping N12.5 million grants to no fewer than 25 successful cooperative groups to bolster their economic activities.
The benefitting groups, each with 20 members were given N500,000. That was indeed just a tranche of the noble gesture by the legendary organisation that winds up in July 2025. The visibly-elated beneficiaries were meticulously selected from Makarfi, Soba and Ikara LGAs of the state.
Speaking, Mrs Dinatu Ayinzat stated that the gesture would help to reduce poverty, unemployment and strengthen food security, as according to her, the initiative was conducted with support from partners like Bread for the World, Germany, towards strengthening food security and poverty eradication. Ayinzat added that the initiative was aimed at sustaining the gains of training and support programmes to the groups on modern agronomic practices, animal husbandry and marketing of agricultural produce.
According to the executive director, each of the 25 cooperative groups received N500,000 as stipends to boost their agricultural businesses. “The gesture is invaluable. What matters here is quality and not quantity.”
According to her, only groups that have registered and opened corporate bank accounts would receive their grants to ensure transparency and accountability.
She therefore appealed to affluent Nigerians to assist their less-privileged brothers and sisters across the country, saying, “If you are rich, it’s not only for you, but for for the common good of all.”
She recalled that RURCON had in October 2022 donated 40 water pumps to 20 cooperative groups in Makarfi and Soba LGAs to boost food production and guarantee food security.
Earlier, Mr Iliya Meshach Njese, acting food security project officer (RURCON) reiterated that the initiative was aimed at providing the targeted groups with finance to strengthen their agri-businesses. He added that each group has over 20 members; therefore, the money would reach about 500 beneficiaries from the rural communities of the three LGAs.
Meshach said the money would be deposited into the cooperative accounts towards enhancing accountability. He therefore tasked the beneficiaries to ensure effective and judicious use of the money as there would be a routine monitoring and evaluation mechanism to ensure sustainability of the programme.
While presenting a keynote address, Dr Yusuf Shehu of the Department of Soil Science, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria said the grants were not ‘National cake’, but that the initiative was designed to complement government’s efforts in reducing poverty. Therefore, he tasked the groups’ leaders on honesty and transparency.
Mr Nuhu Yohanna, a beneficiary from Unguwar Danladi-Ricifa, Soba LGA commended RURCON for the initiative on behalf of all beneficiaries as he reiterated that the faith-based group has trained them on several modern agronomic practices, animal husbandry and supported them on wet and dry season farming.
Youths and women groups, he said, are now being empowered with funds for businesses and described the initiative as highly commendable while appealing to other NGOs to replicate the initiative.
Mama RURCON on her part urged fairness and justice in the distribution of the grants among the members of the benefiting groups and warned against greed/ selfishness.”In RURCON, when we see people are happy, we are happy. The funds should not be misused. The money should not be used for social purposes but for the common good of all. Together we grow, divided, we fail,” she said.
To bolster peace and security across the country, RURCON has included a component of conflict resolution in the food security project. As a result of the training on conflict resolution, beneficiaries from Makarfi LGA facilitated peace building meeting on October 29, 2024 at Maigadi village, Makarfi LGA. The conflict resolution and peace building mechanism deployed by the faith-based NGO in Ikara, Soba and Makarfi LGA has enhanced herder-farmer relationship and reduced ethno-religious disharmony in the area.
Mrs Ayinzat said the conflict resolution component of the project came up due to its importance to the NGO’s food security project.
“We discovered that insecurity was impeding the food security project. We then incorporated it into our project for the people to understand how to live at peace with each other.”
When we started the food security project, everybody was on his own but we are happy today that Muslims, Christians, farmers and herders are here wining and dining together,” Ayinzat said.
She also disclosed plans by RURCON to boost the provision of healthcare in parts of the state through a partnerahip with some foreign donors. To that effect, one clinic each is being built in Lere and Zangon Kataf LGAs.Barr Solomon Musa, a legal consultant from ABU Zaria said the initiative was a proactive measure to prevent crisis, stressing, ”You cannot wait for insecurity to happen before you take action.”
Musa said RURCON went to communities in Makarfi, Ikara and Soba LGAs to teach conflict resolution and peace building. ”This is to serve as a prevention mechanism against banditry and insecurity and it has yielded commendable results.”
Mrs Hauwa Ibrahim-Sabo, a resident of Maigaidi community in Makarfi LGA, reiterated that the initiative by RURCON has beefed harmonious relationships between farmers and herders in the area, thereby enhancing their economic activities.
She added that agriculture was the major economic activity of the area; therefore, the community embraced the initiative, which further enhanced ethno-religious harmony in the many communities around the area.
“In 2023, we took RURCON to some Fulani settlements in the local government; the communities were engaged in the need for sustainable peace between the farmers and herders.
At the end of it, a symbiotic relationship was developed between the two groups and they also agreed to adopt Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) instead of litigation in the event of any misunderstanding.
“The herders supported farmers with manure during wet season farming while the farmers through RURCON supported the herders with improved seeds,’’ she said.
Similarly, Ibrahim Magaji, the village head of Maigadi community said most of the communities around their area had imbibed the gesture of peace especially the farmers and herders.
He also appealed to the government to augment the initiative of RURCON by replicating the initiative across the state to stem the tide of insecurity.Indeed, RURCON has been helping to roundly combat poverty and unemployment as well as their attendant unpalatable consequences in Kaduna state and also doing its best to foster harmonious coexistence among diverse communities in the state, irrespective of religious, ethnic, political or cultural affinities.
