An orphanage in Yobe State, the Ya Zarah Orphan Care Foundation, has graduated 16 orphans who lost their parents in the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
The orphans have been admitted into a private boarding school, El-Kanemi College of Islamic Theology Maiduguri, where they will continue their basic and secondary education with their school and feeding fees fully paid.
Meanwhile, the second batch of 25 orphans have been admitted into the orphanage, comprising 15 boys and 10 girls, between the ages of 6–7.
The orphanage, based in Potiskum, Yobe State, was established by a former deputy governor of Yobe state and now Nigeria’s minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu.
Named after the minister’s mother Ya Zarah, the orphanage provides children with shelter, food, medical and social care under the supervision of experienced educationists and childhood specialists.
In the last five years, the Ya Zarah Orphans Foundation carters for children orphaned as a result of the insurgency in the northeast and other reasons.
At the graduation ceremony yesterday in Potiskum, the minister of Power, who is also the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ya Zarah Orphan Care Foundation, noted that apart from making sure that orphans are given the care every child deserved, providing them with free education is one of the key objectives of Ya Zara Orphan Care Foundation.
The minister who was represented at the occasion by Yobe’s Commissioner for Higher Education, Muhammed Munkaila, also said plans are underway to construct shops and donate them as endowment to generate revenue for the sustainability of the Orphanage Home.
“Like I indicated during the opening of the home five years ago, this service in the way of Allah is open to the entire community so that collectively we can provide the enabling environment to these orphans to realise their full potentials and grow up to give back to society,” the minister added.
Ya Zarah Orphan Foundation also facilitates orphans spending time with their guardians during holidays so that they can reconnect and bond.
One of the Orphans, Ahmad Daye, thanked the minister for the initiatives, which he said helped immensely in alleviating the sufferings of the orphans in the area.
