Kunle Adelabu
-Parents offer special prayers
Barr. Luqman Akinsanya, founder, Pepc Foundation addressing beneficiaries of the 2022 ‘Back to School’ initiative at the Ita – Elewa Youth Centre, Ikorodu
It was commendations and prayers galore from parents and students in Ikorodu, for the Pepc Foundation which distributed educational items to about 2000 students as support for their resumption back to school.
The distribution exercise, tagged, ‘Back to School Initiative’, and involving given out of educational materials: School bags, Sucks, Branded Exercise Books, Calculators, Pencils, Pens, Erasers and Sharpeners, kicked off at Lekki Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos, on Tuesday, August 30, and a total of 5000 students across the State is expected to benefit.
After lkorodu, the distribution train would move to other parts of the state.
Pepc Foundation, an humanitarian organization, started its educational support and other humanitarian initiatives for students and residents in Lagos State about five years ago.
A massive crowd of students, parents and other residents converged on the Ikorodu Youth Centre, Ikorodu Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, on Wednesday, August 31, to partake in the distribution exercise amidst fun and joy.
Ikorodu Residents, Students Commend Pepc Foundation’s ‘Back To School’ Initiative.
Barrister Luqman Akinsanya, founder of the Pepc Foundation, explaining reasons for the gathering, said:
“We are gathered here for our annual back to school programme. We have been doing it for four years now. This year will be our fifth since 2019. So, we are here to provide back to school packs to the kids age 6 to 16”, he said.
“How far we have come has God all the way. The truth of the matter is that it has been a gradual process. We did not start like this, we started with 300 children but now, we are targeting 5000 children by the grace of God, and hopefully by next year, we would be able to do even more.
“I think basically, this is about a life style for me. It’s what I grew up knowing. It’s my parents that actually started to do it, I only have to tap into them. It’s like a norm for me, to be honest.
“The items we will be distributing today are school bags, exercise books, socks, sharpeners, pens, erasers, pencils as well as calculators”.
He explained that the foundation selected those in need of the educational support in different communities as beneficiaries.
He charged parents to pay more attention to their kids, especially as it regard happenings in their schools.
“What we usually did was to look into our environment and identify people that actually need these items and we provided tickets for them to get access to this premises to collect them”, he said.
“To the parents, I will advise them to try as much as possible to monitor their kids. Paying attention to what they are doing in school on daily basis is very important. This is because what we see in the environment nowadays, especially in our schools, are things that are very bad, but most parents do not know about them.
“Parents need to make their kids their best friends, that is the way they can communicate and understand them better”, he added.
A former aspirant for the Ikorodu Constituency I seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly and a close ally of the founder of the Pepc Foundation, Prince Eniola ‘Wakeup’ Adeyemi, in his remarks at the event, said:
“This is one of those exemplary deeds needed in the society, though, it is being done in another dimension, if I may say. Students are resuming in few days and this is back to school progarmme and is being done towards the educational development. I think this is so wonderful from Pepsi Foundation”, he said
While encouraging other privileged individuals to cultivate the attitude of giving back, Adeniran said:
“Like I will always say, it is more blessed to give than to receive and the essence of humanity and existence is love, so, in any way that you have the capacity or any avenue to help humanity, I will just beseech people to endeavor to do it”, he charged.
The former aspirant also advised the students to keep their heads up and be focus on their goals.
“My message to the younger ones is that they should just keep their heads up. You see, impossibility is nothing when you believe that winning is possible. What l am trying to say is that keep your heads up; be focus on the goals; eyes on the prize, no distraction; no peer pressure; no exuberance; no hooliganism; no social vices in any form. Just know that you are going to be great and work towards it”.
Meanwhile, parents and some of the benefitting students were full of appreciation, commendations and prayers for the Pepc Foundation for the distribution of the educational materials which many of them said are great relieve on their expenses.
Miss Anjolaoluwa Salako, a student, said:
“I feel so happy and great. I was giving pencil, bag, eraser, pen and socks”.
Another student, Racheal Balogun, said:
“I am here to thank Pepsi Foundation. They will always go higher and higher. I pray we would collect more than this next time. I feel very happy and very delighted. This group will continue to go higher in Jesus name and none of them will ever fall.
“I thank them for giving us these items and I pray that they would eat the fruits of their labour. Thank you”.
Master Ezekuene Israel, also a student, said:
“The event was so wonderful and great. Everybody loves it and it would certainly reduces the expenses to be incurred by people (those that benefited) in buying bags and other school materials. It is not the government that did it but an individual, that is why everybody loves it”, the young boy said.
Another beneficiary, Racheal Babatunde, said:
“I am thanking Pepc foundation for what he has done for us today, he is such a lovely and a nice man”.
A parent, Mrs Adeshola Ezekuene who also spoke with THE IMPACT, said:
“Today event is very good. It is very ….. l don’t even know what to say. This is so surprising because it’s not coming from the government, rather, it’s from an individual. It’s a thumbs up for him and more power to his elbow”, she commended.
“For the school resumption, I think this will really help because the cost of buying bags is already out of the expenses, while the stationeries given to the students will also go a long way”.
Mr Ogidan Mudasiru, also a parent, said:
“We are very grateful. All the parents in this place are very grateful. We are very happy for the Pepc Foundation. We thank God for the founder and we pray for more grace for him so that he can give more next time.
“We appreciate and love and we will be praying for him too. I am here with my daughters who benefitted from the gesture. Thank you”.
Special prayer session was held for Barr. Luqman Akinsanya who knelt down in the middle of the football pitch as parents and students in the stand pointed their fingers towards him while praying.
The special prayer was in appreciation of the Pepc Foundation’s different intervention initiatives which many have described as impactful.
