The Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State says it recently enrolled 200 Almajiri children into primary schools in the area in an effort to build their future.
Chairman of the council area, Fatai Ayoola, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He also said that the council enrolled in school, children who ought to be in school but were not, due to financial constraints.
Ayoola said that many of such children were from single-parent homes in Komokowa community of the council area.
“What we do is to go to that community, pick these kids, give them uniforms, bags and sandals and put them in our primary schools,” he added.
He said that the aim was to give such children a secure future. “Nobody knows what the kids will become tomorrow. Also, we have schemes. Like in this summer period, we have a summer camp.
“The council has donated five million Naira for a summer camp where kids can engage in sporting activities,” he said.
Ayoola said that education remained key to societal development, adding that every child deserved to be educated.
He also said that the council gave N100,000, per academic session, to each indigene of Ajeromi-Ifelodun studying in any tertiary institutions to support their education.
On agriculture, Ayoola said it was time for Nigeria to make maximum use of its natural endowments.
“We have been gifted with arable lands to farm, and we are still complaining of hunger. There is something wrong somewhere.
” It is re-orientation that really matters now. We need to re-orientate our young minds to see the need to go into farming.
” Everybody cannot be in the office. Most of youths that travelled abroad are doing what is closely related to what they refused to so here.
“As I am sitting here, I have my own farm. I have over 400 cows that I am rearing,” he said.
The chairman appealed to the youth and other Nigerian to be committed to food production. (NAN)
