Lagos First Lady (right) with Asisat Oshoala at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja
First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu has reiterated the desire of the government of the state to support the Asisat Oshoala Foundation.
Mrs. Sanwo-Olu who was playing host to Asisat Oshoala, a member of Nigeria’s Super Falcons at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja recently, said that she had heard the giant strides of the Foundation and the genuine intention of Oshoala to impact and influence positively young girls in the state, hence the need to support her as a source of encouragement.
“You said that you do the works of the Foundation in conjunction with former first ladies in the state, non governmental organizations out there and it’s not surprising you are getting support from the state. I’m sure Lagos state as usually is not going to be last in doing this and since my predecessor has done things like this before, there should be continuity. By the grace of God, we will also be supporting you,” Mrs. Sanwo-Olu.
“Young people like you have already told me about the foundation and your focus has really encouraged young girls. Encouraging them to develop their talent. In those days, when some of our mothers saw their young girls playing football, they didn’t like it. Quite a number of parents made that mistake because they never know that their wards have hidden talents at that time.
“This year when we see the female national team, the Super Falcons at the World Cup in France playing out there, we see people like you, it gives us an opportunity to encourage our young girls that love to continue playing football.
“You are helping young people by giving back to the society at your age and that’s really laudable. There are lots of people out there in your position, all they dream about is buying cars and houses, forgetting about where they came from, but you look back and wanting to help and encourage girls; not only the girls but young people. I see this as a laudable project. God will continue to bless you for that.
“We got the message loud and clear that the foundation has been very active despite that Asisat is not on ground and that is very good because she has put on ground an institution in place that run its course whether she’s there or she’s not there,” the First Lady said.
Meanwhile, Oshoala who plays for FC Barcelona of Spain expressed delight meeting with the First Lady of Lagos to discuss about her foundation , girl child education and sports.
“I’m really happy to meet the First Lady in person. This is not the first time of meeting her. She gave me a lot of support during my foundation programmes and I thought as the First Lady of Lagos State, it will be awesome to pay her a courtesy visit and partner together on some of my projects for the African girl child,” she said.
Oshoala who had won the African women footballer of the years award thrice told Mrs. Sanwo-Olu that ” at the foundation, we usually have different programmes during the year. It’s not all about the competitive part on the pitch, we also usually do something for schools in Lagos State, we have programme for the less privileged and also hprogramme during the Ramadan.
“The reason for all this is to show love and sense of belonging to the less privileged, and also for them to know that Lagos state is ready to support them. So, when we do this collaboration, they know that Asisat Oshoala Foundation and Lagos state are there to help and support them.”