Ugo Foundation is the brain child of Barr. Ugochukwu Okonyia native of Umutaba Village of Umunankwo. The idea was born out of his reflection of life and the ups and downs in his own life. At birth, it could be said that Ugochukwu Okonyia was born with a mouth full of golden spoons. He was well fathered and well mothered. His father was one of the early literate persons in Umunankwo. His mother also came from the prestigious Umu-Atamanya family of Isiolu Village in Ossomala.
Ugochukwu concluded his secondary Education in Ogbaru High School Ogbakuba is 1982 and left for the United Kingdom after a long period of life without direction in Nigeria. No sooner did he arrived the United Kingdom than he realized that survival only depends on hard work, transparency and the fear of God. He enrolled into Coventry University where he got a degree in law (LLB) in 1994. It was however not easy for him for the hazard of life continued to trail him. As a result, Ugochukwu could not visit Nigeria at his father’s death James Okonyia (SNR). His grandmother who nursed him also was buried in Nigeria without Ugochukwu seeing the corpse.
The condition was not totally different for Ugochuckwu when he visited Nigeria after 12 years in 2000. He did not take long for his critics at home to notice his low profile which was quite different from the way others who visited from abroad spill and spray money, buy drinks and boast around. Some rumored that he retuned to Nigeria with his loads in his pillion case. That is to say that Ugochukwu was a failure, a loafer and a never do well. Some even claimed he never went to the United Kingdom.
Despite all these, Ugochukwu was determined, after seeing the suffering in the faces of people in the two towns of Umunankwo and Ossomala to help them whenever God answered his prayers. He confided with his childhood mentor on what should be done to help the suffering masses of the area.
He returned to the U.K and within one year light began to shine at the end of his tunnel, Ugochukwu wrote back to his childhood mentor for the establishment of a Foundation to take care of his humanitarian program and ideas.
In December 2002 Ugo Foundation was inaugurated at St. Patrick’s Primary School, Ossomala, with attendance from Ossomala, Umunankwo and many Ogbaru citizens. With the Motto- “EMPOWERING THE LESS PRIVILEGED”.
PHASE I
The first phase of Ugo Foundation was made possible with the assistance of the Madonna Mercy Family – A catholic humanitarian organization founded by Rev. Fr. Collins Ojene. Under this phase the foundation distributed token stipends to old men and women, sick people and other less privileged persons of Ossomala & Umunankwo with the recommendation of the Madonna Mercy Family.
PHASE II
This program continued for about one year when Ugochukwu decided to extend the philanthropic services to children in primary schools at Umunankwo & Ossomala. After the consultations with relevant stake holders, it was agreed that aptitude test should be set for students in primary schools to select beneficiaries. This was effected and it continued for the next one year side by side with the assistance given to the old men and women as well as the sick. At this juncture the foundation has started to attract attentions not only in the two towns but in Ogbaru Local Government. With suggestions from different quarters and well meaning citizens, the coordinators of the program discovered that those who pass the competitive exam were children of the well-to-do.
These children paid their fees as and when due. They also possessed every requirement of the school system and as a result passed the exam easily to pick the Foundation’s chance which they never needed or valued.
Those who failed their exams were discovered to be pupils who lose attendance to school most of the time as a result of school fees- drive and the like. This situation called for the review of the strategies of the Foundation.
PHASE III
This phase involved delving deeper into the villages to ascertain the very needy children. The idea was to fish out those children who either was not in school at all as a result of the inability of their parents to sponsor them through school or stayed in & out of school from time to time as a result of their inability to meet up with the financial demands.
During this phase of the program it was discovered that many children could not pass their exams, not because they were not intelligent enough but because they stayed out of school more weeks than inside. It was also discovered that most of this students were even more intelligent than those in the first positions in class. By far, this discovery improved the standard of most of the students & opened their academic life to the admiration of their parents. Over 20 primary school pupils were discovered and benefited from this phase.
PHASE IV
With the success recorded in the above discovery, the foundation decided to extend its activities to the secondary school. Using the method adopted in phase 111, about 10 students were enrolled into Ugo Foundation in the secondary school level & they joined those in the primary school.
The Foundations policy was therefore arranged in such a way as to cover the tuition fees for each beneficiaries from primary school up to secondary school, including examination fees for both internal & external examinations as well as notebooks and uniform. At his stage, Ugo- Foundation has about 23 pupils and students in primary & secondary schools on its scholarship role. It should not be forgotten that this was in addition to the assistance given from time to time to the sick old men & women, & some who where sick in hospitals.
It should also be remembered that the Foundation gave assistance to about six young men who finished their apprenticeship in various trades like, welding, farming, etc. At this sage also the foundation was registered with the Cooperate Affairs Commission Abuja & obtained a certificate for its operation.
PHASE V
This phase could rightly be christened computer phase. Under this phase, Barr. Okonyia sent in computer sets down to Ossomala for use by not only students of the foundation, but those in community secondary school, Ossomala. The program was co-ordinated by a youth corp. member serving in the school. Furniture was constructed by the Foundation for use by computer students at the corpers lodge to be taught computer by the coup member. It is a source of pride & a thing of joy for the Foundation that most of these students are now computer literates, while a few of them went ahead to read computer at various levels of their education. Worthy of mention is Dr. Abdalla from Jos Platue State who donated some computer sets to the foundation through his friend Barr. Okonyia.
PHASE VI
About five years ago, in 2005/2006, the Foundation became very uncomfortable with its secondary school graduates who could not transit to tertiary institution as a result of lack of sponsorship. For reasons of the high cost of education in Nigeria, the Foundation introduced a N25, 000.00 annual alleviation grant for any beneficiary of tertiary institutions. Under this phase, the Foundation has sponsored one of its own in one of Nigeria University.
The lucky beneficiary has since graduated with a BSC degree in sociology.
Another one is also undergoing a degree program at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. It is expected that two (2) qualified persons from the Foundation will benefit for the tertiary level this academic session (2011/2012).
Also, guide lines has been issued to offer secondary school scholarship to 10 JSS students extending as much as possible to the various towns in Ogbaru Local Govt. Already, the Foundation has touched the life of children at Ossomala, Umunankwo, Akili-Ogidi, Ochuche Umuodu, Ochuche Ogbakuba and Obeagwe.
It will also be mentioned that children from Okija in Ihiala L.G. are also benefiting from the Foundations Scholarship.
THE FUTURE OF THE FOUNDATION
Already, the Foundation is projecting into the future. A large expanse of land has been purchased by the Foundation. This piece of land in part is expected to be used in projecting the image of the Foundation as far as available resources permit. The Foundation intends to build a mother less babies home, old peoples home, adult education centre, health center, nursery school, as well as establish occupational & skill acquisitions centre for youths development & physically challenged persons. It is also the foundations wish to assist farmers & fishermen in the area to maximize their trade through professional training & workshops.
Indeed, every good spirited individuals, groups & organizations are hereby admonished to come to the aid of Ugo Okonyia Foundation by donating in cash or kind to its program. Any contribution to Ugo Foundation is a contribution to the development of the less privileged, the needy, the physically challenged, the suffering masses & humanity as a whole.
Thank you & God Bless.