The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ROTARY

  • Rotary donates to orphanage

    THe Rotary Club of FESTAC Town has donated items, including refrigerator, cartons of Indomine noodles, toiletries and frozen foods to Beth Torrey Home, a home for mentally challenged children in Amuwo, FESTAC, Lagos.

    The club also gave a cheque of an undisclosed amount, among other things, to a senior citizen/charter member of the club, Balley Dipo.

    Two students were presented scholarship for the next academic year, which covers school fees and books at Fore Sight International School in Festac, Lagos.

    The club also embarked on a tree planting project at Apple Junction, in Festac area of the state.

    The club members were led by the President, Felix Nnamezie in company of the visiting District Governor, District 9110, Kola Sodipo.

    Speaking after the donations at the club’s meeting in Golden Tulip Hotel, FESTAC, Sodipo said the gestures were inline with the vision and mission of Rotary, which seeks to serve humanity and contribute meaningfully to the society.

    Nnamezie commended the club for the donations, saying the gestures were to assist and make life better for others.

    “We in Rotary have an obligation to help others.

    We have been able to identify what is needed in the Home and we have brought them as a way to give them assistance and make life a bit better for them. The club did not just give them anything; they were given what was actually needed.

    “I am impressed with what I have seen so far; the tree planting and donation to the senior citizen is also part of our ways to give back to the society.”

    He said Rotary Club is meant to empower people in the community, urging the members to give maximum support to the president and to see all projects ahead as a team work.

    “All the club members must work closely with the president, because he needs them to achieve the mandate of Rotary geared towards community service.

    “We want more membership in Rotary; we need quality people, who will bring varieties of thoughts.  They must be people of integrity, who can add value to the progress of the club.” he said.

    He added that the gesture was aimed at giving moral support to the less privileged as well as to encourage and give them hope for a better life.

    He said the tree planting was their way to key into the project of the state government on Greener Lagos and to make the environment clean.

    He urged Nigerians to always give back to the society no matter how small, saying it is a means of showing gratitude to God

    He said it is statutory and compulsorily that every club receives the district governor once a year.

    “Through the visit, the district governor is to see what we are doing, what we plan to do, where we are doing well and where we are not doing too well to help with advises, adjustments and recommendations.”

    Administrator of the Home, Mrs. Tayo Udoh, appreciated the club for the gesture.

    “Thank you for coming here, you have met some of our basic needs and what you have given us is what we have requested for,” he said.

     

  • Rotary announces $100m to support polio eradication

    Rotary International has announced nearly US$100 million in grants to support the global effort to end polio.

    Nigeria is to get $16.1 million from the sum to help in the efforts at complete eradication of the vaccine-preventable disease, which once paralysed hundreds of thousands of children each year.

    The country marks two years without any reported case of wild poliovirus, following four reported cases in 2016.

    While strides have been made against the paralysing disease, wild poliovirus is still a threat in parts of the world, with 10 cases in Afghanistan and three in Pakistan this year so far.

    Explaining the reason for the grant, Rotary noted that as long as a child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for ongoing funding and political commitment to eradication.

    A statement by Rotary International said further funding was provided to support efforts to keep 12 vulnerable African countries polio-free.

  • Rotary donates a block of six-classroom to community

    As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility toward raising the standard of education in Lagos State and complementing government’s efforts in the provision of quality learning, Rotary Club of Maryland has donated a block of six-classroom to Isan Primary School, Epe Local Government, Lagos.

    Speaking at the handing over, Governor Akinwumi Ambode commended the club for the initiative saying: ‘When an act of kindness impacted the life of many, it should not be seen just as a corporate social responsibility, but rather as a service to humanity’.

    The governor, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary/Tutor-General, Education District II, Olusanya Ebenezer Abayomi, described education as the bedrock of development in any society.

    He observed that investment in education is not just investing in the life of the people but safeguarding their future.

    Ambode assured the people that his government would continue to invest in the provision and upgrading of infrastructure, particularly at the primary school level across the state. He stressed that the government remains committed to lifting the standard of public school system in the state to enviable height. Ambode, however, enjoined the pupils to make good use of the facility, noting that as students, the future belongs to them.He also used the occasion to call on well-meaning individuals and corporate bodies to emulate the gesture by getting involved in ongoing development across the state.

    Speaking on their choice of the community for the project, President, Rotary Club of Maryland, George Ipekia, said members decided to take action when they discovered the deplorable condition of the community’s only primary school.

    “When I got there, I could not believe what I saw. I felt devastated. How can you have primary one and two pupils in the same classroom? What are they going to learn?”

    Ipekia stated that the club learnt during the ground-breaking ceremony of the building on March 18, 2018 that the school is actually serving not just one but eight communities.

    “Despite challenges faced in executing the project, the club was undaunted in its resolve to ensure children in the community grow up to positively impact the larger society.We plan to adopt the community as our project so that we can continue to do more for them,” he added.

    The immediate past District Governor, District 9110, Dr. Adewale Ogunbadejo, stressed the need to put up enviable structure to ease learning and also motivate students to aim higher. Ogunbadejo said the club would continue its intervention in the community and undertake more projects. He however appealed to the community to ensure adequate maintenance of the building.

    Earlier, the traditional ruler of the community, Alhaji Idowu Rasak commended the club for the initiative and its speedy completion. Rasak appealed for more teachers and called on the state government to undertake developmental projects in the community.

  • Rotary budgets N2.5m for scholarship

    Rotary International District 9110 will soon give N2.5milion worth scholarship to indigent students in Lagos and Ogun states.

    Its District Governor, Kola Sodipo said this at the opening of the refurnished three blocks of classroom in the State Primary School, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos.

    The project was carried out by Rotary Club of Maryland.

    Sodipo said: “When you talk of tertiary education, we do give scholarship to the tune of N100,000 per student in public institutions in Lagos and Ogun states.

    “We are looking at given 25 of such this year. And that would add up to about 75 scholars that we are currently sponsoring.”

    Rotary Club of Maryland President Kunle Adeniyi said Rotary is known to touch lives. “We want to inspire others through our works. If you look at what we have done today, we are trying to touch lives of the pupils and their teachers,” he said.

    Headmistress of the school, Mrs. Adebimpe Fadipe, who lauded the gesture, appealed that the temporary teachers posted to the school and the non-teaching staff be retained due to their effectiveness.

     

  • Rotary inaugurates DG

    Rotary International District 9110 at the weekend installed Kola Sodipo as its 38th District Governor (DG). The yearly investiture held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, started with the ‘roll call’ of former DGs, who filed in with their spouses. Sodipoand his wife Princess Adenike danced from the entrance of the Agip Hall to the rostrum.

    Outgoing DG Wale Ogunbadejo, in his report scored himself high on the promises he made at his installation.  He noted that he did well in the focal areas such as education, health, peace, and vocational training and contribution to Rotary Foundation, where he spent  N180million. He added that a vocational centre was opened at Igbogbo, Lagos State. He thanked those who stood by him and urged his successor to keep the flag flying. He conferred an award on a former minister, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, for his meritorious service to the Rotary. Adelusi-Adeluyi, who was DG in the 1982-83 Rotary service year, thanked Ogunbadejo for the ‘surprise’ honour.

    Before the installation, Sodipo’s citation was read. He joined Rotary in 1999 and became Gbagada Club president in 2004. An alumnus of ObafemiAwolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, where he studied Pharmacy, Sodipo, 56, worked in such important organisations as Pfizer and Neimeth, before he resigned to set up Elly Tom Consulting Limited.

    Sodipo, in tandem with his theme Be the inspiration, promised to equip some primary health centres, hold intercontinental free surgical missions, support education at primary and secondary levels, provide potable water and establish another vocational centre at Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State. He sought for financial support for the projects from members and guests.

    Others who received awards at the event were Leadership Newspapers  founder Sam  Nda-Isaiah, Peacock Group founder Aare Segun Philips, Greenwich Registrar Limited  Chairman KayodeFaloro and Trifant Resources Limited founder Femi Tejuoso.

    Ogun State Governor was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry Bimbo Ashiru and while Lagos State Deputy Governor was represented by Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo.

  • Rotary to improve fight against maternal mortality, illiteracy

    •Club invests 58th president, executive

    VICE President of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Mr. Ehi Braimah has been installed as the president of the Rotary Club of Lagos (District 9110) beginning a new dawn for the humanitarian organisation.

    Braimah, a communication and public relations expert, was installed as the 58th president of the club at a ceremony held at the weekend at Metropolitan Club on Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The installation was a gathering of professionals, business leaders, high-profile Rotarians and the club’s former presidents.

    The event also featured a lecture and fund-raising for the club’s humanitarian projects.

    After he was formally inaugurated, Braimah, in his acceptance speech, unveiled his immediate plans to deploy human and material resources to tackle maternal mortality, malaria, illiteracy and challenges facing basic education in the district.

    Becoming the club’s president, he said, was not his aim when he joined the organisation six years ago, adding that he did not believed he would be installed as the 58th president of the club.

    He said: “Today is another milestone in the history of Rotary Club of Lagos. As I take the mantle of leadership for the 2018/2019 Rotary Year, I am truly honoured and humble to serve our great club that is made up of people who share commitment and passion to work for better communities.

    “Rotary Club is becoming more relevant than ever before, because we have a lot of problems to solve. In taking actions in my Rotary Year, it is essential to execute projects that will create lasting positive impacts on our communities. We have two star projects. The first one is to donate medical equipment worth N4 million to any public health centre, while the second one is to roll back malaria by providing 1,000 mosquito-treated nets to inhabitants of slums.”

    Braimah said he intended to extend the club’s influence by growing its membership, revealing that he had designed a programme to induct eight new members every quarter that would contribute $15,000 to the Rotary Foundation. The aim, he said, is for the District 9110 to earn citation in the club’s international newsletter and event.

    He urged members for support and collaboration in the leadership’s effort to serve humanity through the club’s humanitarian activities. Achieving the club’s objectives, he said, required commitment and sacrifice by members.

    While handing over, the former president, Mr. Soboma Ajumogobia, said the club under his leadership focused on improving lives and humanitarian services to the needy.

    He said the club achieved key humanitarian services, including disease prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, basic literacy and education, peace and conflict resolution, among others.

    Ajumogobia said: “During my tenure, we donated incubators and phototherapy instrument to Massey Street Children Hospital and Island Maternity Home. We provided water project for the needy and sponsored polio plus programmes.”

    The guest lecturer and Chairman of Governing Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in lle-Ife, Osun State, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, who spoke on the theme: “The hearts of giving”, gave population explosion as one of the causes of problems bedeviling the nation’s education.

    He said despite the proliferation of public tertiary institutions, funding remained the key challenge to achieve and sustain the nation’s educational goals. He said universities were being expected to do more with less, stressing that any public institutions that cannot explore funding opportunities beyond government’s subvention would collapse in the next 25 years.

    Ogunbiyi called for paradigm shift in education and noted that technical education must be improved on to equip students with self-reliant and employability skills. He told the club members that there was no better legacy they could give other than giving back to the society.

    Chairman of the occasion, Group Managing Director of SO&U, Mr. Udeme Ufot, described the club as a community of change agents united to build sustainable world.

    The highpoints of the event were the presentation of awards to members who rendered selfless service and inauguration of executive members that will serve in the 2018/2019 Rotary Year.

    Other members of the executive are Vice President 1, Dare Adeyeri; Vice President II, Wale Agbeyangi; Secretary, Elizabeth Olofin; Treasurer, Emeka Dibia; Public Relations Officer, Ayo Banjo; Director of Membership, Abiodun Role; Director of Rotary Foundation, Kehinde Ayo-Kasumu; Director of Club Administration, Amaka Nwosisi; Director of Service Project, Bridget Uko; Director of International Service, Toyin Odulate; Assistant Secretary, Gbenga Alder, and Sergeant-at-Arms, Dele Adetiba.

     

  • Rotary takes tree planting to schools

    The Rotary Club of Lagos, under the leadership of its outgoing president, Soboma Ajumogobia, has taken its tree-planting campaign to Dolphin Junior High School on Lagos Island.

    The club, which moved to the school after its weekly fellowship penultimate week, also donated books to the schools as a mark of its commitment towards ensuring that learning takes place under a conducive environment and pupils get the right assistant to do this.

    Ajumogobia, who planted trees in the school, said the aim of the campaign was to save the environment and teach the pupils how to maintain the balance.

    He said: “We are part of global family of Rotary International, which is committed to protecting the environment and maintaining the balance. Tree-planting is one of the major ways of doing this. Trees provide shades and maintain the greenery. They beautify the environment, which is good for learning.

    “This exercise is part of contributing to creating the right environment for learning.”

     

  • Rotary lifts Oworonsoki schools

    Rotary Club of Gbagada South, in conjunction with Rotary International (RI), Rotary Foundation, Rotary Club of Gilroy and RI District 5170, United States, has donated a set of 16 toilets, a water treatment plant and a generator worth over $66,000 to the Oworonshoki Schools Complex.

    Speaking at the unveiling, the group’s President Ademola Olutusin said the club embarked on building the toilets when it discovered that the complex with over six schools and 3,000 pupils had no good toilets. The outgoing president said the club had also equipped the schools’ computer centre and provided an arts and craft unit, adding that the set of toilets was the association’s 30th project in his tenure.

    ”This is the biggest not only in the club, but also in the district,” he added.

    RI District 9110 Governor Dr Wale Ogunbadejo expressed joy over the execution of the project done because Rotary was disturbed by the poor state of toilets in the premises. He said the new toilets would give the pupils a sense of belonging. He urged the head teachers to maintain them.

    “It is now your project. Maintain them. We will not abandon the schools. We will still come back,” he assured.

    Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs Oluranti  Adebule, represented by the Ministry of Education District II Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary,  ‘Yomi Olusanya praised Rotary for the gesture, enjoining non-governmental organisations (NGO) to emulate RI. Noting the importance of the ministry’s partners, she called for more partnership in education, saying that this would continue to improve education quality as the government could not shoulder the responsibility of education alone.

    School-based Management Committee Chairman Dare Kehinde also thanked Rotary for bringing the projects to the schools, adding that rotarys’ love for the schools was unquantifiable.

     

  • Rotary lifts Oworonshoki schools

    Rotary Club of Gbagada South, in conjunction with Rotary International (RI), Rotary Foundation, Rotary Club of Gilroy and RI District 5170, United States, has donated a set of 16 toilets, a water treatment plant and a generator worth over $66,000 to the Oworonshoki Schools Complex.

    Speaking at the unveiling, the group’s President Ademola Olutusin said the club embarked on building the toilets when it discovered that the complex with over six schools and 3,000 pupils had no good toilets. The outgoing president said the club had also equipped the schools’ computer centre and provided an arts and craft unit, adding that the set of toilets was the association’s 30th project in his tenure.

    ”This is the biggest not only in the club, but also in the district,” he added.

    RI District 9110 Governor Dr Wale Ogunbadejo expressed joy over the execution of the project done because Rotary was disturbed by the poor state of toilets in the premises. He said the new toilets would give the pupils a sense of belonging. He urged the head teachers to maintain them.

    “It is now your project. Maintain them. We will not abandon the schools. We will still come back,” he assured.

    Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs Oluranti  Adebule, represented by the Ministry of Education District II Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary,  ‘Yomi Olusanya praised Rotary for the gesture, enjoining non-governmental organisations (NGO) to emulate RI. Noting the importance of the ministry’s partners, she called for more partnership in education, saying that this would continue to improve education quality as the government could not shoulder the responsibility of education alone.

    School-based Management Committee Chairman Dare Kehinde also thanked Rotary for bringing the projects to the schools, adding that rotarys’ love for the schools was unquantifiable.

  • Rotary offers 25 scholarships

    Rotary International District 9110, Nigeria has offered scholarship to 25 undergraduates. Its District Governor Dr Wale Ogunbadejo announced this during the presentation held at Rotary Centre in Ikeja GRA, Lagos.

    Congratulating the winners, Ogunbadejo said they were lucky to have been chosen out of the 160 that applied. He advised them to study hard so that they could continue to enjoy the scholarship worth N100,000 each yearly, warning that any student who failed to get the required cumulative grade point average (CGPA) would lose it.

    He also advised them to be good ambassadors of Rotary by being of good behaviour, urging them to join Rotaract while in school.

    District Educational and Welfare Endowment Fund (DEWEF) Chairman Adeniji Raji said Rotary embarked on the awards nine years ago because it wanted to add value to the lives of youth. He listed the beneficiary institutions as University of Lagos (UNILAG), Federal University of Agriculure, Abeokuta, (FUNAAB), Lagos State University (LASU), Tai Solarin College of Education (TASUED), Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Lagos Polytechnic, and Federal College of Education, Osiele, with UNILAG topping the list with eight awardees.

    The undergraduates were picked from Medicine, Primary Education, Microbiology, Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK), and Marketing. Others include Linguistics/Yoruba, computer Science/Mathematics and Physiotherapy.

    He said, so far, Rotary has 55 students on its scholarship list with a promise to increase the number in future. He charged the students to be role models in their institutions. He announced that from next year, each beneficiary would be assigned to a mentor.

    He praised past district governors (PDGs) Adekunle Kukoyi for establishing the fund and Prince Adeluyi Adelusi for his contributions to it.

    A beneficiary Agbaje Ahmed Ayobami of the UNILAG’s College of Medicine said he was excited by the award. He praised Rotary for selecting him and for its humanitarian activities.