Rotary Club Enrol 22 Inmates for WAEC, Donates School Uniforms

Okon Bassey in Uyo

The Ini Ememobong Foundation, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Uyo Metropolis, has enrolled 22 inmates of the Uyo Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service for the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

The benefitting inmates include 17 females and five males, currently serving various jail terms at the correctional facility.
The partners also donated 965 school uniforms to students and several new wrappers to teachers of Union Secondary School in Ibiaku, Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area.

Addressing the beneficiaries of the school uniforms, the Chairman of the foundation and President of Rotary Club of Uyo Metropolis, Ini Ememobong, said the gesture was in line with the state government’s free and compulsory education policy.

Ememobong, who is also the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said the donation was a call to service for public-spirited individuals to support the government’s effort in extending the opportunity to be educated to every class of Akwa Ibom child.

“This gesture is in support of what the State Governor Mr. Udom Emmanuel is doing in the education sector. Government cannot do it alone.

Therefore, people must rise to the occasion, and Rotary Club International realised that a long time ago and rose to the occasion globally.

“The first lady of our state is also very passionate about girl-child education and the upholding of the dignity of the girl-child. Therefore, this project is done to complement what she is doing for humanity through her NGO, FEYREP, so that our daughters can continue to look beautiful even in their school uniforms,” he said.

The District Governor of Rotary District 9142, Dr. Okey Okonkwo, said the collaboration has further helped the club to attain milestone achievements in its humanitarian services to the people.

“I am particularly thrilled by the number of the beneficiaries this single collaboration has been able to touch, and I want to commend the Ini Ememobong Foundation for this show of love to the students because I know that this would go a long way to enhance their welfare,” he said.

The commissioner had earlier led members of the club on a courtesy visit to the Department of History and International Studies at the University of Uyo, where he instituted and also presented a cheque of N400,000 Rotary Peace Scholarship for Peace and Conflicts Resolution for masters and doctorate candidates in the department.

He said, “We at Rotary believe that we can take local actions that can affect the international communities. Therefore there is no reason for a department like this, which is known for churning out bright students, not to have an instituted programme that would enable us to sponsor research in vital areas of human existence, and I sincerely hope that with this effort, more research would be carried out in conflict resolution.”