By: GELE AGBAI

The stage is set for the commencement of the 7th edition of Bemore Summer Boot Camp for Girls Naija holding in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

One hundred teen girls drawn from secondary schools are participating in the two-week-long boot camp taking place at the Lead City International School, Jericho Ibadan between August 25 and September 7, this year.

The camp opens on Sunday, August 25 when the participants drawn from Ondo and Oyo states are billed to arrive and check into their halls of residence.

Officials of the Bemore Girls Empowered Foundation, organizers of the two-week intensive training programme are already on ground to put finishing touches at the venue to ensure camping is a fulfilling experience.

Bemore Girls Empowered Foundation is the brainchild of the former First Lady of Ondo State, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu.

The boot camp commenced in 2017 while she was still in office. Throughout her reign, the concern was whether the pet project would fizzle out like the pet projects of many first ladies which were discontinued immediately after leaving office.

That this year’s edition is holding after her reign as First Lady is indicative of how entrenched the pet project has become.

Why Oyo State?

The previous six editions of the boot camp held either in Ondo State or Imo, the ancestral state of the erstwhile first lady.

Though the more than 3000 graduands which the boot camp had churned out since inception were drawn from states other than the two states, the camp never held outside the two states while she was in office. So, why is this year’s edition holding in Ibadan, Oyo State?

Media aide to Chief Anyanwu-Akeredolu, Hon Rowland Onyeukwu disclosed that holding this year’s boot camp in Oyo State is a strategy for BEMORE to gain national visibility as a leading Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in girls advancement in STEM+E(Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Plus Entrepreneurship.

Hon. Onyeukwu added that it is also to correct the wrong impression that the boot camp is an Ondo State Government programme.

Hear him; “It is a strategy for BEMORE to gain national visibility as a leading NGO in girls’ advancement in STEM + E (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics plus Entrepreneurship) and to correct the wrong impression that it is an Ondo State Government programme”.

The 2022 edition had six hearing impaired girls participating while the 2023 edition had four of such girls with two alumni to help in their training. So, how many physically-challenged girls are participating in this year’s edition of the programme?

Hon Onyeukwu revealed that a total of six hearing-impaired girls will take part in the 2024 edition. This time, he said, four of the girls are from Oyo State while two are from Ondo State with one alumni ambassador. There will also be two sign language teachers from their schools accompanying them to the camp as matrons.

The media aide further disclosed that the sign language teachers are drawn from School for the Deaf, Akure, Ondo State and Christian Mission School for the Deaf, Ibadan, Oyo State. The alumni ambassador, he said, will serve as assistant matron to share her experience and help the girls in all camp activities.

The 100 participating teen girls are to be trained in Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and Solar energy installation during the boot camp. They will also be inculcated with skills in bead-making, gele-tying, cake-making, dancing, drawing and music as well as public-speaking and taekwondo.

One thing that thrills many parents is that after the two-week-long intensive training, their once timid girls return home with skills and certain unfathomable confidence and assertiveness to confront life challenges successfully.

The initiator of the programme, Chief Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu(Ada Owerri 1) also gives them a brand new laptop and home solar system each to light up and insulate their homes from the incessant power outages from the public power supplier in the country.