..bothers about its continuity beyond Akeredolu’s tenure
..sponsors new set of girls for 2022 edition
An elderstateman and former member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Board of Trustees, Sen. Bode Olajumoke, has said he was so fascinated with the concept of the BeMore Empowered Initiative of the First Lady of Ondo State, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, describing it as laudable.
The one-term Federal Lawmaker who represented Ondo North in the Red Chamber, stated this in his Imeri country home during a meeting with 2021&2022 beneficiaries of BeMore Summer Bootcamp who he sponsored from Irekari axis of Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State.
Saying that the BeMore Empowered Initiative’s concept was so much encouraging to him when he was notified about it last year, he affirmed that the female education advocacy of Ondo First Lady was apt, in order to discourage bias against female gender in this part of the world.
Citing her elder sister as a victim of gender disparity who was denied access to further education like her othermale siblings, he congratulated parents of the beneficiaries for affording their girls to attend school.
“I’m not surprise that doing this because she’s also a lady. My elder sister would be 90 in December and her story is related with the concept of Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu. She’s the first child of my parents, my father was very anxious to train the rest of us, the male, but not quite anxious to train the female. was interested in education for all his children but he only allowed my sister to get to standard six in those days but for we boys wherever you want to get to, the sky is the limit.
“That is the general attitude of our fathers not only in Yoruba land, but all over the world, especially Africa. So, the concept of BeMore sounds so much encouraging to me”
He, however, expressed concern about sustainability of the programme beyond the current administration, lamenting lack of continuity of good projects by successors in Nigerian system of government.
“Unfortunately, the incoming wife of the governor may decide to pick on another project instead of continuity, which also applies to their husbands.
“If only we can look at the benefits of this programme and continue, can you imagine what it will be like in another 10years, how many more girls would be computer literate, and be educated to be able to defend themselves in the event of attack; these are issues we need to feel sorry about.
“What Mrs Akeredolu has done is to tell us that what a boy can do, a girl can do and even more better”. She averred.
Congratulating parents of the beneficiaries, he said: “It’s a nice thing you’ve done by sending these girls to school because if you didn’t send them to school they wouldn’t have benefitted from BeMore programme. We’ve had women as Prime Minister of nations and maybe one of these will become President of Nigeria and you know whatever women do they do it so conscientiously.
“I want to use this medium to express gratitude to the First Lady, if she didn’t go to school but sells yam in Imo, would Mr Akeredolu ever talked to her? So, she’s pushing herself as an example that you as a girl can be more than what your parents envisaged.
Responding to the experiences shared by the 2021 participants and how they wished to continually have opportunity to participate, including the expectations of the 2022 intakes, Sen. Olajumoke felt bad that in a few years time, other girls might not be lucky due to a change in government.
Charging the 2022 batch to be attentive and learn like their predecessors after listening to the experiences they shared, he confessed that, “I was almost moved to tears listening to those girls’ experiences because most of them had never touched laptops, now they’re exposed to it;
” I know if you are serious with whatever you’ll be exposed to in that Bootcamp, your parents should in turn appreciate you the more. I thank all those who support this lofty initiative”.
Earlier while presenting a BeMore Support throwpillow to him, Mr. Bassey Obeten who’s the technical Coordinator of the initiative, had appreciated the elderstateman on behalf of the Founder, for supporting the initiative.
He commended his benevolence attitude and demonstration of love towards his people, and used the medium to analyse the objectives of the initiative.
Mr Bello Kilani, a parent whose child benefitted from last year’s edition, said he was impressed with the transformation in his daughter after the two weeks Bootcamp, and thanked the sponsor for supporting Irekari girls to be part of the BeMore family.
Also, Mr. Fred Ajongbolo appreciated the Founder of BeMore and Sen. Olajumoke saying the initiative had really given them a level of exposure saying, “before now, hardly did anyone of them travel out of their communities”.
It would be recalled that 17 girls from the four communities that make up Irekari axis of Ose Local Government participated in last year’s edition, and no fewer than 18 girls benefit from 2022’s, coming up on August 21st, under his sponsorship.
coming up on August 21st, under the sponsorship of Sen. Bode Olajumoke
Mary Agidi
Special Assistant to Ondo State Governor on Media
(Office of the First Lady)
Aug., 12, 2022
JATS Online News 