… As foundation hosts luncheon to empower women, others

PRIVATE institutions have been urged to partner government in creating initiatives capable of impacting children, youths and the women in the country, as the government cannot do it alone.

The Chairman of Ikeja Local Council, Comrade Akeem Dauda who made the appeal at a luncheon organised by the Heart of Gold Support & Care Initiative (HOGSCI) and Patrick Ejedawe Empowerment Foundation (Patjeda Group), in Lagos, with the theme: “Beyond The Handouts,” lauded the humanitarian feat of the organisation, noting that many of the foundation’s initiatives have positively impacted the society.

The luncheon was held to raise N250 million towards facilitation of better future for vulnerable people in the society.

The Chairman said: “As a local council, Patjeda group is one of the stakeholders; they have been doing a lot in the area of social empowerment in the community. The government cannot do it alone, I appreciate the foundation for what they are doing, especially in the area of education, we can see a lot of scholarship given to students from primary school to tertiary level.

“When you educate a child it’s like you are building a nation, as a partner in progress, I know they also empower women and the youths, but the area that we are more interested in is education.

“Because we need to empower our youths, we need to take them out of the streets and they are doing a lot in that area.” Dauda said.

The keynote speaker Olaonipekun Daramola stressed the importance of empowerment and its aftermath impact on the society.

He cited how mentorship brought him off the shackles of poverty to wealth and philanthropy.

Dramola added that the target of such initiative should be self emancipation and independence of beneficiaries, while stressing the winning strategies of empowerment as – accountability, spotting of potentials, mentorship and evaluation.

Earlier, the Chief Host and convener of the luncheon, the Group Managing Director, Patjeda Group – Ehiagwina Joy Patrick, hinted that the main drive behind the initiatives is her love to building self reliant and independent people.

“We don’t just give people fish, what we do here is teaching them how to fish, so that they can live a sustainable life for themselves.

“So, our impact is we understand that some children have the skills to go to school, but they just don’t have the support, as little as having a school bag or school sandals, we have to do all of that.

Speaking on the future advancement of the more than twelve years old initiative, the convener noted that more communities will be added to their scope of coverage from Uromi in Edo State to Lagos and Ekiti states.

The Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Services For Patjeda Group of Providence Limited, Mr. John Ighodalo was quick to add, that the initiative intends to help redistribute and create wealth across the country thereby reducing the burdens of governance.