- Seeks strategic partnership with govts
Gboyega Akinsanmi
Rotary International, District 9110, has unveiled social intervention programmes, which it said, would empower hundreds of youths; develop mega water projects in communities and ensure that Nigeria was completely rid of polio virus.
The district, whose jurisdiction covers Lagos and Ogun States, disclosed that it sought strategic partnership with governments, corporate organisations and individuals in order to successfully implement its social intervention programmes.
The District Governor, Mr. Patrick Ikheloa unveiled the programme at a session with journalists in Lagos, noting that all strategic actors “need to partner in developing Nigeria because governments cannot do it alone.”
At the session, Ikheloa explained the district’s agenda “to ensure that Nigeria has been declared polio-free. But we still have three years to be declared a completely polio-free country.
“We are in the front burner to eradicate polio in our society. Nigeria has been declared polio-free. But we have three years to be declared a completely polio-free country. We are in the third lap.”
The governor noted that the third lap “is the critical period. We want to ensure that we sustain the momentum with which we started so that by 2017, Nigeria will be declared polio-free.”
Ikheloa, who was installed as the district governor last month, disclosed the plan of the district “to empower hundreds of youths. Already, we are planning to how actualise this dream. In the coming year, these are our dreams.
“Before now, for instance, clubs each sponsored one or two persons. The clubs trained and equipped the beneficiaries. But we are not taking it as a district. We are giving opportunity to each club to provide two persons from their communities, who will require this assistance.
“By the time we take two persons from each club, we are having about 178 candidates. The district on its own will source from other avenues to make it about 350 youths – male and female. What we normally do is to train and equip. Rotary has never trained and dumped.
“That is the area where we want governments to come in. The more funds we have the more opportunities to increase the number of beneficiaries. We also want to move a step further by partnering governments to give our youth vocational trainings,” Ikheloa explained.
He cited the effort of the district to provide water for scores of communities in Lagos and Ogun State, noting that Rotary “is now graduating from sinking boreholes to developing a mega water project that serve a whole community.”
According to him, “that is what we call big bolder better project. That is an area the zones we have created are going to work. Clubs within a zone can identify a community where they can site such project. It comes from Rotary Foundation Fund and other sources.”
At large, Ikheloa pointed out that the district used the fund from these sources “to execute water projects; implement skill acquisition programmes; carry out youth empowerment and give scholarship grants to indigent students. We are training nine students in different universities.”
