Empowering the less-privileged for National Development

Human and infrastructural development of any nation are issues that demand a lot of resources. These require the financial involvement of government, the private sector, individuals and communities.

Of late, Governments all over the world, especially, in the third world countries have come to terms with the fact that no government has all the resources required for development. Sometimes even where the funds are available for development, government political will, red-tape, change in government policies and emphasis make development projects suffer great setbacks.

The need to get groups and communities involved in development programs and projects to ensure efficient and prudent management of resources has given rise to the REDEEMA. It came about in late 1997. Two friends, having watched the near-stand-still in development in the rural areas of most local governments of Plateau State and the near hopelessness written on the faces of many rural, sub-urban and urban dwellers who are poor and of humble background, decided to do something. Michael Joseph Gowon and Philip Do Gompang who have both tasted rural-upbringing and the scourge of poverty, thought of the need to, in their little ways, help the under-privileged in society especially, those of their immediate environment.

The sight of many unemployed youths roaming the streets in search of non-existent jobs, young boys and girls dropping out of school because parents are not in the position to meet their basic needs for primary and secondary education, the deterioration in mass-literacy activities of government and the continued depreciation in the value of the local currency, the Naira, which has seriously made the economic conditions of individuals as well as families to go bad. The first victims are always women, children (the girl-child) and the poor. This is unacceptable, as these groups of people have a right to a descent, dignified and fulfilled lives like every other person.

The lack of basic primary health care services which has resulted in high maternal death and infant mortality are among pathetic conditions of rural people that got us to take a more serious look on the need to form REDEEMA. Many young people migrate to urban centers, hoping to make a living there who end up discovering that it is all a mirage. The elderly who have failed to “make it” in the cities find themselves not fitting in their rural communities, again, so they end up being swallowed-up in cities and urban centers unable to help themselves or others. They become people of the slums and ghettos producing children that grow-up into hopelessness and developing, sadly, antisocial habits and lifestyles of drug addiction.

REDEEMA became more than just a concept, so the two friends resolved by early 1998 to draw up a vision and to make it a mission. They immediately started to look at ways to improve their own economic power so as to have more resources to help a few more people and to actualize the dream of REDEEMA by sharing these thoughts locally and internationally with individuals and groups.

With the constitution of a Board of Directors and a body of trustees made up of people of impeccable character and unquestionably high integrity, we are determined to bring rays of hope to the needy and under-privileged of our nation and we believe this is possible if well-intentioned men and women from within and without the country join hands with us here at REDEEMA, to fight the ugly monsters of economic degradation, spiritual and social maladjustment.

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