..says it’s divinely inspired and ‘ll be replicated across the 36 states

The President of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Mrs Ladi Bala has commended the Ondo State chapter of the association for deeming it fit to invest in the destiny of the less privileged school children through its Educational Support Initiative which entails disbursement of funds to pay their school fees.

Ladi Bala who was in Akure the Ondo State capital on Monday to grace the second edition of the programme, said the initiative was encouraging in this period where there is paucity of funds, and therefore expressed readiness to make it a national project by replicating it across the 36 states of the Federation.

“This is a laudable initiative, and it will be duplicated across the 36states of the Federation. The national is borrowing a leave from Ondo State, we are taking it up, this is what NAWOJ will be doing differently, in terms of touching the lives of people in the society.

“For me, so far, Ondo is the best under my administration, it’s going to be sustained, even after second term of this exco as I see this Excos doing second term, because when someone has done well, the best thing is to give the person added responsibility”, she said.

The NAWOJ President who described the initiative as divinely inspired, enjoined all to demonstrate love towards one another in no matter little form, noting that everyone had enjoyed a certain level of support in our lives as no one was an Island.

She charged the beneficiaries not to take it for granted, saying that their background doesn’t define their future, but to reciprocate the gesture by making effort to succeed in their academy.

According to her, activities of the insurgent across Nigeria was being perpetrated by uneducated children, noting that a child not trained would constitute nuisance to the educated one, and therefore appealed to individuals to emulate Ondo NAWOJ to complement the effort of the government.

“We should show love and concern to others, all regions of the country are bedeviled and the root cause can be traced to the children not educated”, she noted.

Aside her readiness to make the educational Support Initiative a national programme of NAWOJ, Bala also disclosed that the association, under her leadership would digress from its major social responsibility by empowering widows with financial skills.

“Under my leadership we are going to look at the plight of widows, these are peculiar group of people that Government don’t factor into their programme and policies. I’m coming from the NorthEast where activities of insurgent have rendered so many women widows, so many children are now orphans, the number of widows in the northeast is alarming.

“Giving the cultural background of that environment you will discover that one man will have like three to five wives, and each has given birth to either six seven children and he is no more. Who takes care of these children?. In some cases these women are not educated, and it becomes a problem. Today we are being faced with insecurity issue in the country, you see young boys roaming the streets begging for food. They are vulnerable and can be engaged by anybody.

” These widows should be our responsibility, Government’s and well-meaning Nigerians’, we can’t shut our ears to their plight, NAWOJ will come in by projecting their issues; by drawing the attention of stakeholders and Government to see the need to come to the aid of these women not just giving them money but provide them with skills, they need to be empowered”, she stated.

The NAWOJ President who used the opportunity to visit some media stations in Ondo State advocated that female Journalists should be given award-winning tasks and not being relegated based on gender factor, but Professional capacity should be prioritised.