The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Rotary Club of Lagos Island

  • Rotary boss bows out

    For Rotarian Sanjeev Tandon, the outgoing president of the Rotary Club of Lagos Island, with the benefit of hindsight his two years stint of offering humanitarian service within and beyond his communities has opened new vistas of opportunities for development.

    Tandon who also doubles as the Vice-President, Kewalram Chanrai Group, General Secretary, Indian Cultural Association recounted his exploits in the last two years.

    While taking stock of his service year an elated Tandon, who was in the company of Rotn. Mamta Debroy, who also served under him, recalled that the young club achieved many firsts within the short period.

    Under his committed leadership, the Rotary Club of Lagos Island emerged the first Mega Rotary Club in District 9110 (first club with more than 100 members in the district comprising over 100 clubs in Lagos and Ogun states), became the largest Rotary Club in Africa as well as achieved the lofty height of being the largest Rotary Club with female members in the world.

    “Many years ago, ladies were not allowed to be Rotarians. We used to have the Inner Wheel but since 1987 when the bar was lifted, we have had 56 lady Rotarians, which is the largest female members of any club in the world.

    “We have been very successful because of our female participation. Many of them are not in full-time paid employment but they possess all the leadership qualities you can think of. So, I made them to be in charge of all our committees. They present their programmes and budgets, which they implement satisfactorily that has won us all the laurels.”

    Besides, his club won many plaudits from far and near. One of such recognition came recently at the concluded district conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, where the club was adjudged the best performing club in the district after bagging 11 awards out of 13 categories. These are no mean feat for a club just chartered in 2016.

    Naturally, one legacy he wishes to be remembered for revolutionalising the culture of blood donation and volunteerism, giving back to the society that made you. We did seven blood donation camps this year as against the once a year event and we had more Nigerian donors than the expatriates unlike in previous years.”

  • Lagos Island Rotary to build hospital

    Rotary Club of Lagos Island plans to build a hospital, its President, Sanjeev Tandon, has said.

    He said this at the closing of the free eye cataract surgeries Rotary held in collaboration with Geeta Ashram in Lekki Phase One.

    Though Tandon did not give details of the hospital, it was learnt that the club would collaborate with others to build the hospital, which will serve as its centre for medical activities.

    He thanked partners in this year’s eye surgeries. They included Geeta Ashram; Tolaram; larfage Plc; Indian Women Association and Kewalram Chanrai Group Foundation.

    This year, 259 people benefited from the surgeries, which cost over N45million in a private hospital, adding that it was the club’s second deal with Geeta Ashram.

    Rotary International District 9110 Governor Dr Wale Ogunbadejo praised Lagos Island Club for the plan. Specifically, he said in its two years of existence the club has created a record that some clubs that have existed for 40 years have not been able to hit, not to talk of surpassing it.

    He noted that the hospital will cost millions of naira, adding that it can only be built through hard fund drive from corporate organisations. He noted the club’s ‘’strategic partnership’’ for executing its projects, urging other clubs to emulate it.

    He said the club spent over N45 million on the surgeries, at a modest cost of N15,000 per one at a general hospital, thanking members for their good deeds.

    The consultant medic Dr Atima Mayor, who flew in from Kano to conduct the surgeries, said it was his 19th surgery for Geeta Ashram. “Each of the five-day surgeries took about five minutes to do,” he added. He noted that cataract is the most common eye disease and has no cure except through surgery. He advised Nigerians to take care of their eyes.

    At the event, the club honoured personalities and organisations, who have contributed to the success of the surgeries with awards. They included Mayor, Tolaram, Kewlaram Chanrai, and  Larfage

  • ‘Donate blood, save lives’

    As part of its corporate social responsibilities, industrial giant Tolaram Group, in collaboration with Rotary Club of Lagos Island, has held a blood donation camp at its premises in Surulere, Lagos.

    No fewer than 80 people that included Tolaram’s workers, Rotary members and residents of Eric Moore attended the event. At the end, over 90 pints of blood were donated.

    Its General Manager (Finance) Mr Manoj Dhanuka said the camp was part of Tolaram’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives for its host community, even as he added that the gesture was aimed at complementing government’s blood bank initiative. He said the company also held a camp last month. He expressed his happiness to partner Rotary on the initiative.

    Rotary Club’s President Sanjeev Tandon expressed satisfaction over Tolaram’s gesture. He said the aim of the club was to serve communities, adding that earlier Chellarams, Kewalram and Airtel had partnered Rotary. He said the company had done four camps out of the six he promised during his installation.

    He urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of blood donation, noting that the objective of the club is to inculcate in Nigerians this consciousness, saying that blood donation is common in India. “They should not entertain any fear in donating blood,’’ he said.

    Tandon praised Chairman of Tolaram Group Mr Mohan Vaswani, who is also an honorary member of Rotary, adding that he has done well for the club and Nigeria through the camp and Ishk Limb Centre. He noted that since March 2009, it has given out over 11, 725 free limbs to Nigerians.

    The club’s Vice-President Dr Sunit Debroy also urged Nigerians to donate blood. He said Christians should imbibe the exercise and see it as a form of giving tithe and offering. “If you donate blood, you save lives,’’ he added.

    Rotary International District 9110 Awards and Recognition Committee Chairman Steve Bossey said: “The camp is good, very impressive. The turnout was good. This is essentially what Rotary is all about.’’

  • Rotary adopts three schools

    Rotary Club of Lagos Island has adopted two schools in its jurisdiction for renovation and maintenance. The schools are Dr Teslim Elias School; Unity Baptist School; and Handicraft Centre in Idumagbo.

    Its President Sajeev Tandon, broke the news at Rotary’s Mega Tree planting forum in the schools premises on Sunday.

    During a tour of the school’s facilities, Tandon said he was touched by its infrastructural decay and that something should be done to reverse it.

    The group, during the inspection, observed that many of the school’s 12 classrooms were without ceilings. Some were with leaking roofs, some lacked furniture, have dilapidated toilets, among others. Tandon said it would take a five a year plan to renovate the facilities and that this would cost a fortune.

    He noted that despite the state of the facilities, pupils were doing very well in their studies.

    Head teacher Dr Elias Teslim School Mr Francis Olajide, painted a gory picture of the facilities. He said beside the infrastructural decay, the school has other problems, such as insecurity. He said some hoodlums and residents in the area had turned the school premises to makeshift homes where they perpetrate all forms of atrocities. Olajide said the hoodlums claimed the premises belonged to them and so could use it without any interruption.

    His Unity Baptist School counterpart Mrs Florence Otun, said though the government tried in providing modest facilities in the schools; yet could not go beyond its financial capacity. He praised the Rotary for the adoption, saying that it would in the end, make the schools a model. The two head teachers urged the government to employ more guards in the premises, and if possible deploy policemen to them.

    “It (initiative) is good. It will confront the storm, which has been destroying our roofs. It has destroyed six classrooms. Besides, the oxygen that trees generate is good for both teachers and pupils; and when trees grow, they would provide a shade for us,’’ Yusuf added.