All is set for Saturday's fundraising in aid of out-of-school children as Chairman/CEO, Nigerian in Diaspora Commission, Hon.Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Founder, IA Foundation, Lagos, Pastor Otuah Ighodalo lead other dignitaries' to Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos by 4pm, reports ITREALMS.
Speaking ahead of the event, the founder and chief executive officer, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo disclosed that her desire was to see the vulnerable children being able to acquire qualitative education cum relevance in the society not minding their status.
Mrs Adeagbo expressed displeasure on the alarming rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria which was pegged at 20.2million by UNESCO, one of the highest in the world, and described it as unacceptable.
"This new academic session, 35 per cent of children cannot go back to school because of their parents finding it unaffordable," she said, decrying that these children are begging for alms or hawking on the streets, when they were meant to be acquiring knowledge in the classroom to provide the future manpower of the country.
Mrs Adeagbo stressed the need to collaborate with the government in investing socially in the future of these children to ensure they are skilled to become economically active, remove their family from poverty, increase social mobility and ultimately reduce crime faced by the nation.
ITREALMS gathered that since inception five years ago, IA-Foundation has picked up over 105 children all over the country, enrolled them in schools paying their school fees, educational materials to aid their learning and providing for their upkeeps among others.
Gbemi Omotoso/Editor
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