A Lagos-based foundation, the Kumoluyi Educational Foundation (KEF), has put smiles on the faces of 3,000 pupils in some public primary schools in Lagos and Kwara states. The foundation recently fed the pupils and also donated school materials to assist indigent students in their educational pursuits.
The donations by the KEF included hundreds of schoolbags, free meals, textbooks, notebooks, uniforms and stationery, among others.
The beneficiaries were pupils of Alapere Primary School, Ketu, and Aina Memorial Primary School, Mile 12, both in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, as well as Christ Apostolic Church School, in Odo Owa, Kwara State.
Representatives of the KEF, which is the humanitarian arm of The Word Bible Church, headed by Prophet Julius Babatunde Kumoluyi, including Rev. (Mrs.) Funmilayo Kumoluyi, wife of the cleric, Mr. Akpomedaye Clement, Segun Kumoluyi, Pastor James Biyi, Femi Akinnirun, Bukola Kumoluyi Otunlana, Pastor Opeyemi Ibiremo and Victor Osinbajo, who took the gifts to the schools, also spent quality time with the beneficiaries, praying for them, advising them and preaching the gospel and moral ethics to them.
Mrs. Kumoluyi, president and founder of the foundation, led the team. She told Daily Sun that the KEF had sought the approval of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) before carrying out the empowerment scheme. She added that she founded the NGO in 2016 to serve as the philanthropic arm of the church, which would be performing the social responsibility function of the faith-based organisation in all host countries of the branches of the church across the globe.
Said she: “We are glad to bring this educational empowerment programme to some schools in the country. What we have done in these schools is just a tip of the iceberg. We are preparing to do much more. By the grace of God, we have been able to put smiles on the faces of hundreds of indigent pupils desiring education but handicapped by the inability of their parents or guardians to provide all they need as school materials.
“We realise that all fingers are not equal and that is why we are extending this humanitarian gesture to kids in public schools. We are fulfilled with the joy of satisfaction and gratitude expressed on the faces of these kids and we promise that we will do more.”
The beneficiaries of the gesture and their teachers were grateful to the KEF. They noted that if such development was taken up by every faith-based organisation in the country, it would go a long way in solving issues of low enrolment of kids in public schools.
Teni Omolade, a primary two pupil of the Aina Memorial Primary School, Mile 2, Lagos, who was one of the beneficiaries, said: “We are grateful to the Kumoluyi Educational Foundation for this kind and generous gesture of feeding us and providing our school materials. We also pray that God will provide for their needs too.”