Anambra Women Pledge to Play Role as True Agents of Positive Change

By Praise Chinecherem

Daughters of Nsugbe community in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State have pledged to retake their position as true agents of positive change using their carefully-crafted divine vision.

Speaking at the event to mark the 3rd edition of Umuada Nsugbe Orula cultural Carnival, Convener of Umuada Nsugbe Orula, Hon. Mrs. Eucharia Attah, noted that the carnival and end of the year prayer was targeted at promoting unity, peace and culture of Nsugbe people.

She said the event attracts Nsugbe daughters who are married within and beyond Nsugbe and those living home and abroad.

She also noted the Umuada Carnival is not just about cultural display and prayers but also an opportunity to empower the younger women of the community, as six persons have been enrolled to acquire different skills in areas such confectionaries, and tailoring.

She said, “Our target is to engender a shifting from the vast negativities that abound in our society today.

“We want our youths to begin to abstain from hard drugs, to shun crime and criminalities and commit to positive living.

“For our women, we are envisioning to raise mothers who will in turn raise god-fearing children that will be law-abiding citizens.

“So, overall, it is a carefully-crafted vision which God has given us as Umuada Nsugbe Orula, through this cultural carnival, to begin to retake our position as true agents of positive change.”

Attah pleaded with good-spirited individuals and groups, to support the Umuada Nsugbe in the empowerment initiative as it will help to take the youths out from crimes.

“When you look at the vision we have, vis a vis what we did here today, you will realize that this is a capital intensive project.

“These trainings we do, the empowerments and all the efforts of Umuada Nsugbe require the support of critical stakeholders and even the government.

“If we begin to get it right at the community level, using these channels, there will be little or no problem at the state or local government levels.

“So, we appeal to public-spirited individuals to lend their support to this movement and together we will achieve our goals,” she said.

Some Umuada Nsugbe expressed their joy coming home to learn and unite with their sisters at the annual event.

The President of Nsugbe Youth Assembly, Comrade Chidi Obiudu acknowledged that Nsugbe community has been brought to the frontburner in positive things through the activities of the Umuada Nsugbe.

In his view, the teachings on healthy living especially as it concerns food, will help promote good health among the people and reduce the incidence of deaths resulting from unhealthy nutritional habits.

“All these things that the men have forgotten in the pursuit of money and other ventures, are the things they are reviving.

“Culture is the people’s way of life and the way God created it, anyone who abandons their culture, is intentionally asking to go into extinction.

“When you look at the foods they prepared today, it transcends down to healthy.

“These are the types of food we hardly see that are of very high nutritional value but they were able to bring them out here today.

”So, we want to commend them for championing this great occasion which will no doubt encourage the return to our positive ways of living,” Obiudu posited.

On his part, an Nsugb indigene, Dr. Emmanuel agu Onyekwele appreciated the women for coming from different places to guide the younger generation on the core values of Nsugbe indigenes.

“Women are great and before we have a better society, our women must first be better.

“So with what they did here today, they are showing by their talks and their disposition, that they are going back to their roots, to be what God had created them to be- change agents,” he said.

The event featured cultural performances by the women, prayers, display of cultural Artifacts, and indigenous food presentation.

Umuada Nsugbe cultural festival is celebrated annually by the Umuadas of the ten villages that makes up Nsugbe which include, Amagu, Aba, Akpalagu, Ofia nta, Agbalagbo, Ogwari, Amumu, Enugu, Ama ofuu, and Nnadi.