In their determination to curtail crime rates around Lekki and its environs, in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, Lekki Residents Association (LERA) has organised the end-of-year party to fete over 50 street boys in the area.
The event with the theme, “Show love to the homeless,” took place on Friday, at LERA Center, Lekki Phase 1, in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Admiralty and The Place Restaurant.
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mobolaji Ogundele, who was the Guest Speaker for the occasion, promised better life for the homeless in Lekki, Eti-Osa LGA.
He urged various communities in Lagos to emulate Lekki residents who are putting resources together to reduce the number of street children in the state.
The Commissioner promised to collaborate with stakeholders in the estate to achieve this.
In his welcome address, LERA Chairman, Mr Yomi Idowu, said the essence of the gathering was to put smiles on the faces of the homeless, noting that the estate was aware of the influx of street children into the area, but plans were underway to minimise this.
He said that 13 of the street boys had been adopted by a resident, Col. Rotimi Vaughan, who had been working tirelessly to reintegrate them.
According to him, some of the boys found their ways to Lagos for one reason or the other and deemed the estate habitable, but residents were out to reduce the influx by reaching out to them.
Idowu said Col. Vaughan had provided shelter for the 13 and residents were putting heads together to identify the challenges of others as a way of providing solution to them.
He said: “Living on the streets is not the best option for you and you have to leave the streets if you want to be great in life,” he said.
The resident chairman seized the occasion to interview the children and identified their area of needs and many of them signified interest in being enrolled in school while some said they would learn a vocation.
Also speaking, President, Rotary Club of Admiralty, Rotn Adeniyi Sowemimo, urged the boys to cultivate the habit that would make them excel in life.
Earlier, Col. Vaughan said the 13 adopted street boys have been provided with shelter, clothing, medicine, food and other things required by them. ”With the support of my wife, we were able to take 13 of them out of the streets.
“Though this is capital intensive, but God is providing the enablement as we have decided to shoulder the responsibility and made up our minds not to bother people with it.”
The Colonel said one of them, a sickle cell patient, was abandoned by his family due to the state of his health and he later found himself on the streets.
While sharing their experiences, some of the homeless lamented that they were forsaken by their family members and this made them to be on the streets.
They claimed to be in Lagos, particularly Lekki, in search of means of livelihood.
On listening to the plights of the street boys, Ogundele handed over two of them who indicated interest to be salon operators, to a popular barbing salon operator in the estate.
Also, he invited three of his friends to adopt one each while thanking the Vaughans for their efforts so far.
He said: ”On listening to the plights of the boys, I have invited Master Cut to adopt two of them who indicated interest in barbing to be trained in that capacity while my three other friends would adopt one each.
”My ministry will work with the residents, Col. Vaughan and other stakeholders to chat a way forward for reintegrating the children.
“To those who would like to return to their states, we won’t hesitate to work out logistics to achieve this.
”I commend Lekki residents, Rotary Club of Admiralty and The Place Restaurant for putting this together.
“This is a good gesture and I wish the 57 local governments and council development areas in Lagos State can emulate this.”
He said his ministry was looking at possible ways to take children out of the streets and Lekki would be used as a case study so that others would learn from it.
