Speaking on why she chose to mark her 61st birthday with GSSGS girls, Mrs Gbogboade said “We are celebrating Girls Child’s Day; our club is associating with girls, we want to give them courage; we want to create hope in them; that they can make it. They don’t have to look down on themselves; that is why we have come. We have come to talk to them, we have come to encourage them, we have come to tell them that they can become wonderful members of the society, and then we have also given them materials to encourage them, we have given them sanitary pads because they are all girls, we have told them that hygiene is very very important, we have given them books to encourage them, textbooks, biro and ruler, and they are happy.”
Speaking on whether the girl-child has been given her rightful place in Nigeria she maintained that the government is trying a lot. “The government is encouraging women to come on board for politics and so many other programmes to encourage women, to get loans to improve their businesses, and to look up to the fact that they can make it. So there is a lot of encouragement even through the government. They can do more but they are trying.
“Our First Lady, Remi Tinubu, she has a lot of passion for women, and our President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he has a lot of passion for women, and he is also making sure we are happy. So we want to associate and celebrate with the girl-child today.
“Without education there is nothing anybody can do, we want to liberate their mind, that education is very very important,” Gbogboade stated.
The Principal of Girl’s Senior Secondary Grammar School, Isibo Omolaja, on his part, stated that the importance and value of the girl-child cannot be over-emphasized, adding “The government is trying but there is still more to be done, we thank God for the present administration, at least they have given the females more space in ministerial and other appointments, that is a great way to start from. Today they have become ministers, they can become commissioners. At a time we were even thinking we are going to have the first female governor, but I am sure, sooner than later we are going to have the first female governor. So I think there is great hope for them; there is enlightenment, and they too, they are becoming aware of the fact that, yes, they can attain any position in life”
Ibrahim Aisha the Senior Prefect of GSSGS said, “I feel very excited and I will like to say a very big thank you to Rotary Club of Ikoyi because there are students that come from very poor background, many parents give tissue papers to their children, for their menstrual cycle which is not good, but through the distribution of the pad they will be able to use it, it is more hygienic, so we are very grateful to the club.”
Meanwhile the club also visited the Motherless Babies’ Home in Lekki, Lagos State where the president donated several items including bags of rice, cartons of Indomie, snacks, biscuits, educational materials, and other items.
The
president of the club, Mrs. Gbogboade before her presentation of the items to the
Home, commended the management of the Motherless Babies’ Home saying “I just
want you to know that you are not alone. You are working hard to put smiles on
the faces of these children, we appreciate you, we are proud of you.”
One of the
hosts who chose to speak on condition of anonymity thanked Rotary Club of Ikoyi
for their wonderful gesture. “What you brought is never a token, we want to say
thank you to you people, because there are a lot of big people in the society
who do not care about the less-privileged; they only care about what goes into
their stomach. Now when you give someone sound education, you have given them
everything, I thank you. If you care for the less-privileged, you are
protecting your own children in future, because those your children that you
are protecting and you are leaving some behind, you are creating a problem to
yourself.”
He pleaded
with the club for more assistance especially in the area of power. “And I am
going to say, like Oliver Twist, we need a particular thing, our agency would
not mind, because government alone cannot do it. We have a big challenge of
electricity; we will be very happy if Rotary Club of Ikoyi will support us with
solar panel to power the cinema donated to the Home by another organisation.”
In the end, Rotarian
Winifred Imbasi, the image maker of the club called on Rotarian (Dr) Aigbe Davis,
a Former President of the club; the immediate Past President of the club, Rotn
Augustine Irabor and Lurlyn Osunkoya, Chairperson, committee that oversaw the
donation to the motherless babies’ home, to appreciate and commend the good
work being done by the management of the Home in taking care of the children
and keeping the premises clean.
According to
Rotarian Augustine Irabor, the club would consider the request made by the
management of the Motherless Babies’ Home “We will continue to provide the
little we have going forward particularly now that you have given us heads up
on your needs, definitely we will come back to fine-tune these your
requirements and then pass it on the next president.”
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