By Dwelleth Morountodun
For a long time even when she was preoccupied with her service to her fatherland as Minister of Finance where she did creditably well with various innovative reforms, now is time to give to the less privilege and the needy.
The former finance Minister, is therefore bouncing back into the public space this time with the Dash Me Store Foundation (DMF) primarily to give to the indigent through the store house.
Speaking at the official launch in Lagos, on Sunday, she unconcealed that the store is established to mobilise resources for onward distribution to vulnerable people in the society via grassroot charities.
On the motive underpinning the gesture, she said the idea of the store is to aggregate donations of different kinds for charitable causes, noting that Nigerians from different fields of endeavour and from across the country would be enabled via the online store to contribute to supporting the needy in the society.
She said the organization would work closely with charitable organisations in the grassroots to ensure that funds and other materials donated via the Dash Me Store get to actual beneficiaries.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a Pastor in Redeemed Christian of Church of God (RCCG), who understands the virtues of giving to the less privilege was on ground for the inauguration on Sunday.
On one of the policies of government that Kemi Adeosun, will be remember when she served as Minister, Osinbajo, said one factor responsible for the impactful implementation of the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the Buhari administration over the years is the realization that you can’t reach Nigerians if you don’t have a plan for the grassroots
According to him, this influenced the structure designed for the SIP and is largely responsible for the successes of the programme (which is now regarded as one of the biggest social welfare schemes in Africa.
“I am excited to be here for several reasons, but most of all because of Mrs. Adeosun’s commitment to the notion that all service to man is actually service to God, and she took that very seriously.” The VP, added.
This is why, as Minister, she prioritised the Social Investment Programmes, when for the first time, the country voted almost N500B of our annual budget to welfare programmes which are called the Social Investment Programmes, which involved engaging 500,000 young men and women, and also giving microcredit to about 2 million traders and also a home-grown school feeding programme for 9.5 million children daily in public schools across the country.
“I am therefore really not surprised that she has decided to use some of her enormous talent and influence to establish an organisation that raises funds and provides resources for indigenous grassroot charities working with orphaned and vulnerable children, disadvantaged youth, and victims of domestic violence.”
However, how the downtrodden Nigerian masses will be made to benefit from Madam Kemi Adeosun’s philanthropic calling has not explicitly made known to the rural lots.