Jare Olukotun with Olaleye Taiwo & Ayoola Oladipupo (SIWES Students)
“Hearing that boy say he has just three books for twelve subjects was overwhelming. It made me realise firsthand that some of these children really do lack even basic learning materials like notebooks. So, this truly shows that people still need help with things as simple as notebooks. NYCN Imota, God will bless you. God will provide for you. God will lift you higher.”
Through the above statement, the State Deputy Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Sen. Comfort Olafare, on Thursday, expressed the magnitude of the impact the lack of learning materials has on pupils’ education and how the continuous intervention of the NYCN Imota Chapter, through its Back – To – School initiative, has been assisting the government and the society at large in addressing this challenge and ensuring that out – of – school children are encouraged to be in a learning environment.
NYCN Deputy State Chairman, Comfort Olafare, who made this remark at the second day of the Back – to – School initiative by the Imota chapter of the youth organisation which saw to the distribution of 2000 exercise books, as well as school bags, uniforms, rubber shoes, pens, pencils, and socks across schools in Imota Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
Three schools – Methodist Primary School, Imota; United Native African Nation Primary School, Oke Agbo; and United Native African Nation Primary School, Igbalu., were visited on the second day of the exercise and one out – of – school pupil was enrolled.
Recall that four schools were visited on Wednesday when the programme kicked -off and 53 out – of – school children were enrolled by the group across the schools.
Sen. Comfort, who is also the Constituency Officer to the Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Sen. Tokunbo Abiru, speaking further during the distribution said:
“I must say, today is actually a good day for me honestly. I think you (NYCN Imota) have made my day, and the reason is your intervention programme. When I got here, I heard those students say something I’ll never forget that out of twelve subjects, they only have three exercise books. I don’t know how they are doing studies and work in the remaining nine subjects.
“Therefore, when I heard that, despite our best efforts to help, I still couldn’t fully comprehend it at first, but, I must sincerely thank NYCN Imota, for coming up with this initiative.
“Because, if I’m being honest, I used to think that notebooks are not part of challenges or factors causing children to be out of school. Do pupils really still lack notebooks? Don’t their parents buy them notebooks and all that?” she asked.
Concerned about the basic needs of pupils, the state youth leader pledged to partner with the local chapter through her own NGO to reach more children that are out of school and also the existing ones and provide them with learning materials.
“For next year, my NGO – Adunni Foundation will be willing to partner with you for the next edition. We’ll gladly partner with you because this is huge.
Honestly, I was shocked when I got here. Thank you for inviting me, because if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known about this. Thank you,” she added.
Charging parents to start discharging their responsibilities to their children especially in terms of their education, Sen. Comfort urged them to control child birth and only produce the numbers that they can cater for very well.
“I will say to the parents to always be mindful of how they give birth so it won’t be stressful to nurture many kids. And, when they have them, parents should learn to cater for these children in school.
“Let’s stay united and keep doing things together, because this is not just about a small act it’s about collective effort,” she said.
The Coordinator, NYCN Imota, Comrade Oriyomi Adebogun, speaking earlier narrated how the group discovered about 500 children in Imota that are out of school during a survey exercise two years ago.
He said that the discovery prompted the Back – to – School initiative which was started in 2024.
Adebogun called on other critical stakeholders, especially parents to assist the youth group in achieving that no child is out of school by ensuring that their children and wards attend school every day.
He pledged continuous support of the NYCN in terms of provision of learning materials.
The innovative and pragmatic youth leader also stated that his charge to the parents and some other issues would be discussed at the final day of the three -day exercise which is a stakeholders’ parley.
Again, parents, teachers, and pupils expressed heartfelt gratitude to NYCN Imota for their continuous efforts at supporting education They noted that the initiative would go a long way in improving learning conditions for children in the community.
