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The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Civic Engagement, Princess Aderemi Adebowale has acknowledged the social and economic impact of the “Womb to School Programme” initiated under the present administration in the State, affirming that the social intervention programme targeted at school children majorly will help raise civically responsible citizens in future.
Speaking at the ongoing Inter-Ministerial Press briefing in commemoration of two years in Office of the Governor Sanwo-Olu’s two years in Office, the Special Adviser submitted that the initiatives which has three other components namely; “Mother, Infant and Child, Snacks for Thought and Ideal Child” initiatives, were visionary projects implemented by the Sanwo-Olu led administration.
According to her, Governor Sanwo-Olu has kept to the vision of progressive governance that is inclusive and rewarding to all and sundry irrespective of their colour, creed and ethnic leaning. The Special Adviser who revealed that the Office of Civic Engagement which is mandated to bring Government closer to the people through programmes that enhance social cohesion, political inclusion and civic participation in governance has established an open structure towards achieving the Greater Lagos dream.
While rendering the achievement of her Office in the last two years, Adebowale stated that her Office is employing an integrated approach in the delivery of programmes and activities towards ensuring all citizens are civically responsible. She disclosed that the bold attempt to provide women with basic food items during pregnancy in all the 20 Local Government /37 LCDA in the State informed the launch of “The Mother, Infant and Child (MICH) initiative” under the “Womb to School Programme”, adding that the initiative is to ensure both growing fetus and indigent expectant mothers have access to nutritious food needed for the healthy development of the baby and the well-being of the expectant mother.
“The Office under my privileged leadership understands that to create a peaceful and harmonious environment where Government can function optimally, citizens (from conception to birth) must be given a fair chance to live, grow and become civically responsible individuals who are less likely to exert social pressure on the system”, she explained.
She confirmed that in order to complement the home-grown school feeding programme of the Federal Government, the administration has embarked on the “Snacks for Thought” feeding programme design to take care of the pupils at the crèche and primary 4-6 level, adding that 11,965 pupils from 33 public primary schools in Lagos Island benefited from the pilot scheme.
Adebowale explained that the feeding programme also have the tendency to serve as the socio-economic blueprint of Government and in the long run prevent this generation from bequeathing a sustainable development legacy to the next generation as it does this by keeping students in school. “There are additional dimensions to the project other than just snacks giving such as food and nutritional security, safety and human development. To aid the efficacy of various school initiatives, the Sanwo-Olu administration is accelerating effort to provide children access to world-class educational learning by comprehensively upgrading school infrastructure and building teachers capacity across the State”, she averred.
The Special Adviser, submitted that “The Ideal Child Project” is another socio re-engineering project that seeks to support and impact the lives of selected children positively right from their foundational years to their formative years. She said the project is targeted at public schools facing challenges in meeting structural, environmental, and academic performance standards, the Ideal Child Project aimed at identifying children showing these risk factors such as; poor academic performance, dressing, language and mannerism, relationships and general misconduct. In addition, we will look at brilliant students who don’t necessarily have the good family or community support system they require to flourish as they are easy prey for gangsters, cultism and other social vices.
She further revealed that to fight against drug abuse and cultism in our schools in all public and private primary and secondary schools, the Office would be collaborating with Ministry of Education, Safety Commission and Office of Education Quality Assurance to embark on aggressive sensitization programmes.
She revealed that another project “The Girl- Boy Child” was inaugurated to address the issues of abuse of both the Girl and Boy child in today’s society, adding that the theme of the project’ My Voice, Our Equal Future’, was coined to educate children on their right to equal opportunities to self-actualization in line with the Child Rights Act, which has been domesticated in Lagos.
Speaking on social intervention programmes which the Governor has institutionalized, the Special Adviser pointed out that one essence of these projects is beyond providing immediate gratification for beneficiaries, adding that Government is determine to position beneficiaries as self-sufficient individuals and employers of labour.
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