By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Members of Adorable Social Club of Nigeria (ASCON) recently celebrated the group’s tenth anniversary with a thanksgiving ceremony in Lagos.
Founder of the group, Princess Ada Okeke-Amam said at the event that the major problem facing Nigeria was high unemployment rate. “The development makes many agile women, youths and young persons to be unproductive. This situation fuels social vices, restiveness and crime.
“Women are the most reliable people in politics and it has been proven with Kamala Harris breaking the glass ceiling to make history as the first female to rise to the position of American Vice President. Our own Ngozi Okonji-Iweala will soon make history,” she noted.
She enjoined government to embrace more innovative and developmental schemes that could curtail unemployment in the country. “Government must not relent in its efforts towards tackling the challenge, especially with the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic which affected a good number of persons, jobs and businesses,” she charged.
She said the club established the foundation five years ago, noting that the aim is to provide support for women through the platform.
“Adorable Foundation International (AFI) has been in the forefront of creating awareness in every part of Lagos and beyond on the dangers of drug abuse and misuse,” she noted.
She said the focus of the body was to ensure that drug abuse was prevented, noting that success is easier to achieve with prevention than managing and rehabilitating a drug addict.
Also part of the foundation’s activities, she said, includes teens and youth empowerment. She said the foundation does a lot of advocacy and has created a lot of awareness on culture-related issues affecting the girl-child, among others.
She added that the foundation has also been reaching out to widows and victims of domestic violence.
Deputy President, Ohananeze Ndigbo in the United Kingdom, Aqueen Ibeto said she decided to be part of the event by the convener’s passion to serve humanity.
“She empowers and advocates tirelessly for women at the bottom of the pyramid, who are arguably the worst hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, and she speaks against the general systemic financial and economic exclusion of the poor at the macro-level.
“We are empowering poor women in rural and urban slum communities, not because we have the money but to add value to our society. We do this by training them in different vocational skills to help them generate income,” she said.
Ibeto further noted that women are rising to positions of power, adding that women are prepared to take leadership positions and are determined that they would no longer be relegated to the background.
“The women are equipping themselves for these positions and the men are aware of the challenges and are ready to support women,” she said.