By Daniel Tyokua
Better days are underway for residents of the Federal Capital Territory communities, said the Rotary Club of Abuja Garki Neighbourhood.
The club said it had mapped out strategies in its 2023-2024 calendar year, to give hope to the residents by uplifting them through poverty alleviation.
President of the club, Adeoye Aderogba noted that the initiative was to create hope for its adopted community in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and other communities of the territory.
Aderogba, who assumed office to pilot the club’s affairs for the new Rotary year, which kicked off from first July 2023 to 30th June, 2024, said during the period, members of the Club will be creating hope for the communities out of illiteracy, diseases, poverty, disharmony and environmental threats.
At a brief official handing over to him as the sitting President, he added that Rotary as virtually a humanitarian organisation, will be creating hope for FCT people through enrolment of children into schools, payment of school fees, scholarship and all our outstanding projects like the quiz competition in select FCT Secondary Schools and so on.
He noted that Nigeria is one of the high growing rate of the world, with about 5.5% growth rate every year, with over 20 million out of school children, adding that development will elude the people if there is no access to basic education for all, and poverty will continue to ravage the society.
According to him, ” Rotary International has given us a theme: “Creating Hope for the World”, for the year, so communities within Garki and the FCT as a whole, which our Club belongs to, should be expecting to get a lot things from our Club.
“Our communities should expect a lot of things from us this emerging Rotary year, because we are going to be meeting each other often, as we are creating hope for them out of diseases, poverty, disharmony and environmental threats.
“We will create hope for them through enrolment of children into schools, payment of school fees, scholarship and all our outstanding projects like the quiz competition in select FCT Secondary Schools and so on.
“We are going into maternal and child care through distribution of birth kits, which we will ensure that it is done very well. Also, we are going to be organising symposiums and seminars for women especially expectant and breastfeeding mothers to know how best to cater for themselves during pregnancy and postnatal periods amongst others.
“We are going to start from our adopted community and we will ensure that we continue to extend our hand of hope to other communities within the FCT.
“Fellow Rotarians, we must put all hands on desk, to make sure that we achieve more this year, by building on the foundation the immediate past President laid , so as to achieve more for our people. We your support, we will make sure that we run this year smoothly and create hope for the world we live in.
He also recalled that: ” For the past Rotary year, the Club had twenty women who were empowered will skills and start-up capital. At least 7 grinding machines and 3 sewing machines were distributed including wheel chairs were given to persons with disabilities as part of our empowerment initiative. And this is a little aspects of the achievements that the Club under the leadership of the immediate past President achieved.
Speaking earlier, the immediate past President of the Club, Rotarian Hajia Zainab Omowunmi Owonikoko, urged members and families of the club to ensure continuous support of the new president.
Owonikoko, who was the Club’s first female president, noted that emergency of her successor, who had once served as the president of the club in the past is an indication of acknowledgement of his capacity to lead the club to greater heights in the service of humanity.
The Club had last week rolled out sustainable programmes in seven areas of focus for 2023-2024 to include; peace and conflict prevention and resolution, disease prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, economic and community development and environment respectively.
