By Adeboye Ado, Akure
The Pioneer District Governor, Lions Club International, District 404A-4 Nigeria, Lion Dr Kofoworola Jegede,PMJF, NLCF LCIP, has revealed the plan of the club to equip youths with skills for the purpose of national development.
This is even as she outlined her projects of service across the three states that make-up her mandate areas.
The Pioneer District Governor assured that her tenure will be action-packed in view of several activities lined up to make life worth living for the needy, especially the youths within the mandate areas of Ondo, Edo, and Delta states.
Topical on the projects is the building of a Youth Empowerment and Recreational Centre to be sited in Akure, the Ondo State capital to serve as a hub for the training and retraining of young persons across professional callings.
Addressing Journalists at her Maden Press Briefing in Akure, Lion Dr Kofoworola Jegede said the Centre will scale-up the professional skills and competences of the youths along the path of sustainable development and global competitiveness.
According to her, “If you look at the average profile of a great number of our youth, their thinking is about money, 419 and Yahoo business, and the image of this country has been bastardized through them, and that is why we have to target and engage them in a positive way for a better society.
“We must arrest this disturbing trend and re-orientate them to channel their energy positively, and it is because of this we are doing this. My project is to provide for them a functional facility, where they can have the freedom to come together to brainstorm for the benefit of our society.
“When we talk about skills and intelligence, we are there, so all hands must be on deck to assist these youths”.
On the thematic areas of Lions Club, which include Vision, Diabetes, Feeding, Environment, and Paediatric Cancer, Lion Dr Kofoworola Jegede said that the club would mobilize actions and resources to carry out diabetes screening programmes in Ondo, Delta and Edo States.
“Also, we will go round to screen people for diabetes. Diabetes is on the increase due to what we are eating, so because of that, we want to go out to screen people and refer them to the hospitals in order to reduce the increase of this ailment.”
While reiterating the inherent joy in serving the needy, Dr Kofoworola Jegede called on persons with heart of service to join the lions club to make the human society better for all.
“In Lions Club there is no barrier to serving the less-privileged. Neither Religion, Politics nor Ethnicity is a barrier. We network for greater opportunities and actualisation of potentials”, she said.
She equally called on the media to be a collaborative partner showcasing the various programmes of the Lions Club which is the only Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, that has a seat in the United Nations.
The Press Briefing which had in attendance, PCC Tokunbo Jegede;PDG Adekunle Adedipe; Cabinet Secretary, Lion Olu Akinsiku; Cabinet Treasurer, Lion Foluso Bodunde; District Chief of Protocol, Lion Bode Akinwumi; District GLT Coordinator, Lion Queensly Adedipe and representatives of clubs in Regions 1, 2 and 3.
