From Benjamin Babine, Abuja
The Rotary Club of Abuja, Gudu, over the weekend has supplied free uniforms, school bags, stationaries and has also paid all schooling registration fees for over 150 children in the Angwan Fulani Village in Gaduwa.
The club ‘adopted’ the village last year, taking responsibility for its development, and by so doing bettering the living standards for residents by providing boreholes for the community as well as vocational equipments for the women.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the President of the club, Ogechi Uwadoka, said because the organization prioritizes basic education and literacy, they have committed themselves to making sure that all children in the community are given the proper tools for learning.
She said: “We want to make sure that all the students in this community who are of school age are actually in school. So we have come today to give them school materials. We have given each child a school bag, per of uniforms as well as their stationaries. We are also going to pay for their registration, for the entire year.”
Calling on other bodies to join and help communities like Angwan Fulani, she said: “All hands must be on deck because when we talk about the future of Nigeria, these are the people we are talking about. If we neglect them now, we will have a problem in the future. So I think the various bodies and organisations can always chip in support, no matter how little.
“So we can help make sure they are back in school in a clean environment and with clean water. In a couple of weeks, we will be commissioning a new borehole we have provided for the community, which will have thirty taps.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of Vocations Committee, Mr Alvan Gurumnaan, said the club adopted the community because it’s people have been completely neglected and that children of the community were out of school because of lack of proper infrastructure. He called on the government to join hands in providing adequate infrastructure for the residents of the community, saying it’s a job that “we all must join hands to perform.”
Mr Gurumnaan said: “This community is in the heart of Abuja but it’s almost like a lost community. The only government presence you can see here is the school with just a 3 classroom block meanwhile, they are right in the middle of many fancy estates. We have done our bit by bringing school items, providing water and other things but government has to do more because the community is in need of school toilets, school sporting facilities and many other basic amenities.”
Thanking the Rotary Club of Gudu, the Chief of the community, Chief Muhammad Abdullahi said he appreciates the organisation for their efforts and prayed God to bless them. He claimed that the community has been resident there for decades and asked the government to join hands with Rotary to help support them with basic amenities.
The village which is located near the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) laboratory in Gaduwa, houses over 500 residents with over 150 children living in huts who are enduring a very low standard of living.