The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ROTARY

  • Rotary marks World Polio Day today

    Rotary International District 9110 will hold the World Polio Day today in Awka, the Anambra State capital.

    According to the Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee Chairman, Dr Tunji Funso, activities lined for the yearly event to create awareness for the eradication of the disease include visitation to Governor Willie Obiano, para-soccer match and advocacy visits to marketplaces.

    He enjoined Nigerians to part of the events and donate to the Rotary’s Polio Fund to enable the association step up activities for the eradication of the disease so that Nigeria can be polio free by 2019.

     

  • Rotary drives voluntary blood donation

    Rotary drives voluntary blood donation

    Nigerians have been urged to make blood donation a way of life.

    The Medical Director of a diagnostic facility, Paramount Life Care, FESTAC, Lagos, Kenechukwu Obianodo, made the appeal at the blood donation camp organised by  the clinic with Rotary Club of Lagos-Palm Grove Estate, Nigeria (District 91100), as part of activities to celebrate Nigeria’s 57th independence.

    Obianodo said his facility partnered Rotary Club in blood donation because it has the equipment.

    “Blood donation is good. It leaves the donor better. And because we have fully automated pathology, we are good to go.”

    The club’s President, Atul Kshetry, said the reason for the donation was to  ensure that those in need of blood do not die due to lack of blood supply, and to encourage voluntary blood donation among Nigerians. The best gift to commemorate this 57th independence is to give blood because blood is life, he said.

    Kshetry said the club has a blood donation camp, which ensures monthly voluntary donation by volunteers.

    He said the club targets not less than 30 pints of blood. “The need for blood donation is very important because there is a huge shortage of same. The act of voluntary blood donation is not common in Nigeria, as in other parts of the world. By the Blood camp, we are creating awareness on the importance of voluntary blood donation, just as we also are targeting free donation of 1, 000 pints of blood. That will make blood sufficiently available through the Red Cross Club.”

    Kshetry said the major challenge facing the committee is to motivate Nigerians to donate blood voluntarily.

    “This is because Nigerians do not have the culture of donation. That is similar to India some 30 years ago. There was no culture but over time, the culture was built up. But in Africa, the problem still persists. This camp was done in collaboration with Paramount Life Care and the Lagos State Transfusion Blood Services (LSTBS),” he said.

    Obianodo added: “Pathology is the study of the overall response of your body to any foreign influence, i.e., disease. Actually, we use this knowledge to diagnose and treat your ailment. What we do is to carefully compare the normal structure and function of a human body (anatomy and physiology) to the abnormal structure and function we witness in an unwell human.

    ‘’Doing this is the most crucial phase and we take note of even the minutest details while adjudging the extent of your ailment because one slip can lead to an incorrect diagnosis, posing serious threat to your health. Our experts ensure that they are extremely careful while analysing the samples.

    “Paramount Life Care offers a  menu of pathology tests in its laboratory. We also provide a range of diagnostic assays covering. The  automated lab features includes: Barcoding of every tub,  zero-contact’ collection in vaccutainer, bullet sample transfer from collection room to lab, processing on automated track, direct interfacing of results from equipment to reporting software.

    ‘’We provide a range of diagnostic assays covering hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, endocrinology, microbiology and parasitology, molecular biology,  cytology and histopathology,” he explained.

    He said this month was for prevention and screening for breast cancer.

    “Digital mammography is the most advanced equipment for the early detection of breast abnormalities. Early detection provides the best chance to treat breast cancer successfully.

    ‘’To assist women stay cancer free, we have other state-of-the-art women’s imaging services, such as full-field digital mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI and stereotactic biopsy.”

  • Rotary Gbagada South installs Olutunsi 15th president

    Rotary Gbagada South installs Olutunsi 15th president

    They came from far and near to celebrate with one of their own –Samsideen Ademola Olutusin, a notable insurance broker – who was to be installed the 15th president of Rotary Club, Gbagada South, Lagos.

    Among the dignitaries who attended the event, which held at Lydia Hall near River Valley Estate, Ojodu Berger, Lagos, was Rotary International (RI) District Governor Dr. Wale Ogunbadejo (the host).

    The event was also well-attended because it was held by the district governor’s home club.

    Another member of the 38-member club is Oba Isiaka Balogun Oyero, who was the Father of the Day.

    The event kicked off with a procession of past presidents, who were called out, one by one. As they filed out to the front, they were accompanied by their wives amid applause.

    Outgoing president of Gbagada Club Jeje Babatunde said he had a fulfilling tenure, adding that during his tenure, the club prospered. It executed many projects and programmes in Rotary’s six focal areas. Specifically, he said, the club donated a set of computers to the Computer Centre of the Oworonshoki School Complex, which comprises six schools.

    It held a parley on good driving ethics aimed at eradicating carnage on the roads at the Gbagada General Hospital, where senior officials of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and the Nigerian Police, among others, spoke to  drivers, conductors and community development associations’members. He also cited his empowerment initiative for some traders in Ifako-Gbagada.

    Babatunde said these would not have been possible, if not for the cooperation he received from his colleagues. He later decorated some of them for their outstanding contributions to the club.

    Babatunde later passed the baton of leadership to his successor, charging him to keep the flag of the club flying.

    Olutusin, a graduate of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, and Fellow, Nigeria Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (FCIB), was all smiles. He promised to take the club to greater height.

    Olutusin, who took over about three months ago, said he had already started work. He said: “We held a very successful reception for the DG when our signature project of disbursement of micro credit loans to Akerele Night market men and women, Ifako, Gbagada held. The club for the first time added widow empowerment, with three widows given pepper mill machines each. It donated some items to the Agboni/Ketu Primary Health Centre, Ketu.’’

    ’At the moment, the club is renovating a block of six classrooms at the Lagos Mainland Local Primary School, Fadeyi, Olutusin added.

    He urged all to support the club with generous donations, adding that it had already raised N1.5million.

    He promised to run an all-inclusive administration during his one year rule, charging the 38 members of the club thus: ‘’It is our year and not mine alone. The effort to making a difference will be collective and not selective, but the success will be ours alone.’’

    Olutusin advised them to ‘always remember that we are all volunteers in humanitarian services, thankless vocation, which should impel us to continually appreciate and encourage one another’.

  • Rotary: Why we harp on tree planting

    Rotary: Why we harp on tree planting

    ROTARY International (RI) has explained why it harped on annual tree planting and made it a part of its core programmes the world over. Its District 9110 Governor Dr Wale Ogunbadejo said the group believed that humanity would suffer if the earth’s contents were not sustained.

    Speaking at a tree planting forum sponsored by the Gbagada South Club at the Oworoshoki School Complex in Lagos, Ogunbadejo said Rotary had foreseen a long time ago that unless the earth’s resources were replaced by greenery, the world would face a major crisis.

    Rotary Gbagada South President Ademola Olutusin said 33 trees were billed for planting at the event. He said RI has 1.2million members worldwide, adding that if they planted trees, they would make an impact. ‘’That means we would plant 1.2million trees. Every Rotarian must plant a tree to combat climate change,’’ he said.

  • Rotary gives traders N1m micro credit

    The Rotary Club of Ikoyi, District 9110, Nigeria has presented N1million micro-credit to the Sura Market Traders Association in Lagos.

    Dr. Adewale Ogunbadejo, the District Governor, District 9110, at the presentation at Westood Hotel, Ikoyi noted that the club’s commitment to executing projects that touches lives had helped to empower the less-privileged.

    Ogunbadejo urged the traders to use the loan properly and ensure that those who benefit reciprocate the kind gesture by using the loans to enhance their business and ensure a quick turnaround. “This will enable more market men and women participate in the micro credit scheme, to improve their businesses and better their lives and those around them,” he said.

    The investment, according to the President of Rotary Club of Ikoyi Isichei Osamgbi, is aimed at impacting beneficiaries positively, noting that Rotarians, traders as well as the market leaders and delegates from the supervising financial institution, Boctrust Microfinance Bank, are committed to the delivery of the micro credits early in the Rotary year to enable more people benefit, by providing them capital for their business.

    Osamgbi, while pointing out that the micro credit scheme is one of its strategic projects for the 2017/2018 Rotary year, noted that it was planned by club members that the market men and women needed all the support they could get to help grow their businesses.

    The Rotary president noted that all over the world, government alone could not do everything, but works better when the citizens cooperate together to build the nation, by contributing their quota in whatever little way they can to support.

    In his response, on behalf of the traders, the Market Leader (Baba Oja), Mr. Wahab Adeyemi Fashina, thanked the club for the gesture. He said the traders would do their best to put the fund into good use and uphold the trust and faith reposed in them.

    He noted that if most non-governmental organisations joined hands to do good in the society like the Rotary Club of Ikoyi, life would be better for Nigerians.

  • How Rotary can impact life, by district governor

    Rotary International District 9140 Governor Adewale Ogunbadejo has urged the Rotary Club of Lagos to increase its social interventions through impactful developmental projects in areas of need.

    He said the club must align its philanthropic activities with its renewed mandate to meet the people’s yearnings. He spoke during his pilot inspection of districts since his assumption of office.

    Hailing District 9110 for what he called its positive interventions, Ogunbadejo charged its president to extend the same spirit to subordinate clubs across the state.

    He said: “One of my formal responsibilities is to visit them all so that I can look at their state, motivate and inspire working better. Rotary meets people at the problem level. It’s the flagship club and they have the responsibility to inspire engage and motivate other clubs. They must seek means of supporting the growth of other rotary club as they are running a very good system. The theme for this year is making a difference. At the end of the year, we would have done so much in areas of focus of the rotary that would be remembered for impacts that made a difference.”

    District 9110 President Ehi Braimah hailed the governor’s visit and promised that efforts would be channelled at strengthening “our club to be more effective in diverse areas of humanitarian services.”

    The club, he said, was currently focused on raising awareness of the Rotary functions and enhancing the rotary public image to attract like minds into the rotary family.

    “The significance of his visit is that we are among the first batches of clubs to be visited which is a great honour. Our activities going forward are tilted in the direction of sensitising people about the club. Rotary has been in Nigeria for 57 years and yet many do not understand what it is all about. So we need to have a very good relationship with the media to attract more public spirited Nigerians to join us,” he said.

  • Rotary donates books to Edo

    As part of its efforts to revive the reading culture among the primary and secondary schools pupils in Edo State, the District 9141 of the Rotary Club International, Benin City has donated cartons of books to Edo State government. The donation was made to the state government through the Edo State Library.

    The handing over ceremony held at the Edo Library Complex, Sapele Road, Benin City had government representatives and members of the voluntary club in attendance.

    At the event, the District-Governor of the club, Mr. Ikponmwosa Ogiemudia who lamented the rate of the dwindling reading culture among the Nigerian youth noted that the donation was a deliberate action by the club to revive and encourage reading culture among the young generation.

    Speaking on behalf of the state government, the Chairperson, Edo State Joint Implementation Team for the Revival of Public School System, Mrs Grace Sanni commended the club for its numerous humanitarian supports. She reiterated the state government’s efforts in reviving the reading culture in the state.

    Mrs. Stella-Maris Imasuen, who representative of the Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Education, noted that the gesture did not only come at the right time but also in accordance with the efforts of the government to revive the public and school libraries in the state.

  • Rotary district 9141 vows to intensify fight against polio

    Rotary International District 9141 has pledged to intensify effort in the fight against polio with a view to removing Nigeria’s name from the list of the endemic countries.

    It said cases of children infected by polio in Nigeria have been reduced by 99.9% but that until polio is eradicated forever, every child remained at risk.

    New District Governor for district 9141, Ikponmwosa Osagie Ogiemudia, stated this shortly after he was installed.

    The new district 9141 was created out of the old district 9140 covers Edo, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States.

    Mr. Ogiemudia said Rotary District 9141!would soon commence treatment of children with heart defects within the district.

    Ogiemudia said plans were already at an advance stage to begin the treatment this month.

    Ogiemudia who spoke shortly after he was installed as the pioneer governor of the district said he would work hard to ensure communities within the district benefit from the humanitarian services of Rotary.

    Mr. Ogiemudia stated that besides the free heart treatment to be provided for children, there were plans for communities under the district to feel the impact of Rotary services to community development.

    Ogiemudia said there were already offers from counterparts in Mexico for community water projects as well as support from India for any project the district comes up with.

    He noted that many promises of Rotary to communities have not been achieved because Nigeria has the least number of Rotarians to assist in solving identified problems.

    According to him, “We need more Rotarians to deliver the promises we have made to the children of the world. If the people in the continents and countries that have fewer challenges are joining Rotary, why can’t we?

    “This year, we will come to you and beg you to support our Rotary Foundation. Help me to save mothers and children I will never know. Help me to provide water I will never drink and help me provide books I will never read.

    “When Rotary clubs are closer to the people and when we increase our passion for service, Rotary will be more effective and more communities will benefit.”

  • Rotary sensitises traders, schools on malaria prevention

    Rotary sensitises traders, schools on malaria prevention

    Over hundred Rotary clubs in Lagos and Ogun State at the weekend took to markets, schools, bus parks and other public to sensitise Nigerians on how to eradicate malaria.

    The enlightenment rallies were in commemoration of the 2016 malaria day with the theme “End malaria for good.”

    The clubs also distributed free treated nets to fight the worsening influence of malaria in the states.

    A public health specialist and chairman, Malaria Elimination Committee Rotary District 9110 Nigeria, Dr. Dele Balogun, pointed out an estimated 292,000 African children die before their fifth birthday due to malaria in 2015.

    The disease, he said, caused an estimated 306,000 under-five

    deaths in the same year.

    Balogun added 95 countries and territories had ongoing malaria transmission and an estimated 3.2 billion people, nearly half the world’s population, were at risk of malaria as at 2015.

    Distribution of insecticide-treated nets, he stated, was reintroduced to prevent mosquitoes from biting people.

    “Mosquitoes will preferably bite at night especially the mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

    “I want the people to know that without eliminating malaria, poverty will remain with us.

    “This commemoration is another opportunity for people to know that if mosquitoes are not allowed to breath and are not allowed to bite there can never be malaria.”

    He added: “Malaria kills children, especially those below 5 years of age. Malaria kills pregnant women. Malaria kills people living with HIV/AIDS.

    “Malaria kills people with low immunity especially those who come from areas where they don’t have malaria who now come into the malaria belt.

    “So it is very important to know now that malaria is a preventable disease and rotary along many other NGOs and the governments have put together plans to make it a reality that malaria is totally eliminated.”

    An Ophthalmologist and Rotarian, Dr. Basirat Giwa buttressed the fact that Rotary has made a landmark achievement in the fight against Malaria over the years.

    She added that there must be a collaborative effort between the public and private sector in winning the war.

    According to her: “Statistics has shown that the rotary involvement has contributed immensely to more than 30% reduction in the mortality rate over the years and that is the reason why Rotary is getting stronger and encouraging more Rotarians to get involved in the Roll Back Malaria activities.”

  • 18 undergraduates get Rotary scholarship

    18 undergraduates get Rotary scholarship

    Eighteen indigent undergraduates have benefitted from scholarships value at N100 000 each, courtesy of Rotary District 9110.
    The beneficiaries were presented with their cheques by District 9110 Educational &Welfare Endowment Fund (DEWEF), which cut across Lagos and Ogun states, at Rotary House, GRA Ikeja, last week.
    DEWEF Chairman, Adeniji Raji, thanked one of the club leaders, Adekunle Kukoyi, who initiated DEWEF in 1992 to encourage poor, but brilliant undergraduates whose cumulate grade points hover between 3.6 and 4.2.
    Adeniji recalled that the award eventually kicked off in 2009-2010 with three awardees, adding that the nimber of beneficiaries have continued to increase with each edition.
    “As you continue your journey through college and into the wider society, be reminded always that each of you therefore, has a role to play to make Nigeria better,” he urged.
    He added: “Bear in mind at all times that the purpose of human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others. I pray God to give that sense of humility to you so that you can know how to render help in your own way, according to your capacity for your own good and the benefit of others.”
    Past president and Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, Ebun Atinuke, recalled that the board received 68 applications. After screening, applicants were pruned to nine, Ebun said, adding that DEWES Board then decided in its wisdom to double the number.
    “We initially interviewed about 50 potential awardees, but I can categorically tell you that those you see here are the best,” Ebun said, referring to the 18 beneficiaries.
    He continued: “During the interview, they told us all we knew (about Rotary); some of which many of us have even forgotten. I will encourage you to imbibe this culture so that you can grow from Rotaractors to Rotarians.”
    One of the past presidents of Rotary Lagos, Adeoye Tugbogbo, whose tenure was between 1985 and 1986, in his goodwill message, said he was at the event to represent two of the beneficiaries from Ogun State. He has also been a member of DEWEF since inception,
    “I am here to support two awardees from Ogun State. Last year we had three out of nine awardees. I am happy for the progress we have made so far,” she said.
    Two of the beneficiaries, Ojo Owolabi and Bakenne Mariam, thanked DEWEF for the gesture.
    Ojo, a 200-Level Environmental Engineering undergraduate of University of Lagos, recounted his journey to being a beneficiary.
    “It was our departmental course representative who informed us about the scholarship with an instruction that we should write an essay justifying why we are from a poor background and why we needed this money. We submitted to Rotary District and we were all invited to a very strenuous screening. We were about 20, but it was only two that survived in the end.”
    “This scholarship will meet part of my fees and also propel me to be the best ,” he said.
    Bakenne, a 300-Level Marketing student of Lagos State University (LASU), and a two-time winner of the scholarship, expressed her happiness for qualifying, having met the 3.6 and 4.2 cumulate grade point benchmark by DEWEF.
    I want to buy a laptop. I shall soon be proceeding to my final year where I will begin my project, and I need to have a good laptop to do this,” Bakenne said on what she intended to do with the money.