By Brown Chimezie
Members of the Ikeja Metro Lions Club have donated a set of school uniforms and sandals to pupils of Makoko Children Development Foundation (MCDF) in a bid to improve their quality of the education.
Speaking at the event, President of Ikeja Metro Lions Club, Godson Anigbo,said the club conducted a needs assessment of the school and found out that the school needed assistance in many areas.
Anigbo, who is MD/CEO of Ikotel Communication Ventures Limited, said members of the club were shocked by what they saw in the school.
He said some of the immediate needs of the pupils were footwear and that this led to the donation of sandals to the school. He said the club also donated money for the running of the school and asked the founder to provide a plan and cost for the expansion of the school.
He said other needs of the school and pupils would be provide by the club.
“The place looked abandoned when we visited; it seemed they have been forgotten by the government and society. The school is standing on wood that is surrounded by water. This is not right and it is not a testimony for Nigerian and her people.
“It is not right for the pupils and their teachers to subsist in this kind of environment. There is an urgent need for the government to come to the aid of these people. The government needs to relocate the school to a better environment for the pupils and pay their teachers.”
However, Founder of the school, Urban Wheduto, said he started the school after he discovered most of the children in his church could not recite the English alphabet and count one to ten and he decided to teach them the basics of elementary education. He said he was encouraged to expand the teaching of the kids with the help of family and friends who contributed to build the wooden structure housing the pupils.
He said he had reached out to relevant authorities who made promises to assist, but failed to fulfill them.
He said he pays volunteer teachers stipends whenever it was possible and called on government and public-spirited individuals to come to the aid of the school.
One of the teachers, Juliet Fosupe, appealed to the government and Nigerians to help the school financially and otherwise.