Beyond celebrating its end of the year party last Saturday, the Lagos Chapter of the Erhurun Uneme Development Association awarded N500,000 education grant to 10 indigent families who are resident in Lagos.
This came under the association’s education support programme to assist its less privileged members to offset education bills of their wards.
The beneficiaries were chosen based on their consistence in attending the association’s meetings, had low source of income, and were members of the Erhurun Uneme clan in Akoko Edo, Etsako East and Etsako Central Local Government Areas of Edo State.
They smiled home with N50,000 each.
The Chairman, Mr Peter Balogun explained that it was a collective decision to empower their members.
“We are here to see that those that are not in school and the ones in schools who cannot afford their fees, we support them. This is to ensure that their children’s education continues”.
Lamenting the deteriorating state of the education sector mostly in the rural areas, Balogun said the association was also doing its bit to assuage the condition.
“The education system is nothing to write home about. The government has left that sector for the private individuals especially in the rural areas. Pupils do not have requisite infrastructure nor do teachers have staff quarters. They are all suffering. We try as an association to do our best. We distribute education materials, even the youth corps members posted to our locality, we ensure we give them accommodation and take care of them. These are part of what the union does yearly in the past 10 years,” he said.
The Chairman Planning Committee, Mr Lucky Okhagbuzo said to raise funds, the union had to tax the more fortunate ones to support those in dire need of resources.
The National President of the umbrella body of all the Uneme associations known as National Developmet Association (UNDA), Mr Bayo Akhigbe said the association’s objective was to unite all the associations scattered in three LGAs in Edo State and also invest in human capital development.
In appreciation, one of the beneficiaries, Mr Emmanuel Adedeji said the money would go a long way in paying for his wards’ education.
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