Girl Child: Bimbo Odukoya Foundation Hosts School Children

CHUKA UBAH

It was both entertaining and educative as Bimbo Odukoya Foundation hosts School children to mark this year’s Day of the Girl Child celebration in Lagos.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that every October 11 world over is set aside to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. Commemorating this event, Bimbo Odukoya Foundation held its annual Girls’ Empowered Conference, an initiative of the Foundation aimed at promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) amongst female students in secondary schools.
The event, which was held at the multipurpose hall of the Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju Lagos, had in attendance 1280 female student representatives from over 21 Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Lagos State and 217 teachers, sponsors and partners of the Foundation.

Delivering the keynote speech, Mr. Michael Ekwemalor, C.E.O of the Michael Ewemalor Foundation, in his words encouraged the girl child to believe in their ability to aspire to the desired professional height they could attain. Giving credence to Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank Group and Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, as feminine role models, he urged the girls to attain and exceed their feats. He noted that presence of any female in a society can be attributed to the earth’s salt, hence they remain trailblazers.

Sensitizing the students on the effects of drug abuse, Mr. Olufemi Silas, a drug abuse expert and a campaigner for social justice under the name STAMPOUT, expressed that the scourge of drug abuse is fast becoming a national challenge amongst the youth and how it can be best prevented. Playing a short “before and after” drug addiction clip of famous celebrities around the world, he pointed out that recent statistics has proven that 1 out of every 4 drug addicts is a female. Defining drug abuse as a harmful use of psychoactive substance, he classified drugs to fall as depressants, stimulants or hallucinogens. He urged that even when drugs will be taken for health purposes, it must be according to the doctor’s prescription. Mr. Silas took time to unearth drug code names such as jiko, lakatomtom, omi gutter and skoochies as some of the local parlance used for drugs urging the girl child to desist from experimentations, peer pressure, inducements that can lead to such act.
Taekwondo coach and self- defense expert, Ms. Thursdaline Peters, gave tips on how a girl child can protect themselves against sexual abuse. Explaining self-defense as the defense of one’s self or loved one from confrontational action or speech, she reeled out the ABCD of self-defense as; A- Avoidance and Awareness, B- Be Calm, Be Bold, Breathe In and Breathe Out (this will help to create calmness before taking action), C- Communicate with confidence, D- Defense (This should be used when A B and C are not working.  She listed necklace, bangles, biro, whistles and tail comb as handy weapons for ladies.
Director of Unite Cisco Network, Mrs. Toyin Olutayo, who spoke on the importance of technology and how the girl child can plug into the 4th revolution global trend of development, gave a wakeup call to instructions of learning to start delivering an educational system that make school leavers more entrepreneurial minded instead of looking for jobs as technology is fast replacing human roles. Mrs Toyin noted that there are spaces in the technological sector such as cyber security experts, email technology, application developments to still be filled and the girls can assume dominate these spaces.
Mrs. Aderonke Oyelakin, the Coordinator Bimbo Odukoya Foundation, in her charge said a girl child must have a safe, healthy and caring environment to grow, learn and excel. This will help in instilling confidence in them hence helping them to channel their strength in chasing their dreams and achieving their goals in life. “Let us celebrate the laudable achievements of our daughters to make them unstoppable” she added.

The project officer of the foundation, Mr. Ese Akpovona, added that we should stop gender stereotypes. Girls can be more if given the opportunity to thrive and express themselves in different fields of work including STEM.
Giving the vote of thanks and closing remark, Pastor Mrs. Omolara Adesanya, Deputy of Board of Trustees of the foundation, who also is the eldest sister to late Bimbo Odukoya, thanked all participating schools, teachers, media outfits, speakers and sponsors of the event. She promised that the programme, which is yearly, will accommodate and invite more schools at the next event. The major sponsors of the events were Stanbic IBTC, Michael Ekwemalor Foundation, Eventful, Tastee, MTN Foundation, GTBank, Haddassah Foods, Xchangehub, and many more. The programme came to a wrap with a word of prayer.