Obas pledge support to IA Foundation for sponsorship of out-of-school children
By Omolola Dede Adeyanju
The Ibironke Adeagbo Foundation, well known as IA Foundation has earned a pledge from Royal fathers to aid and collaborate in achieving her set goals to ensure support and sponsorship for out-of-school children in Nigeria.
His Royal Majesty, Dr Stephen Ademola Makinde, FCA, made this pledge on behalf of all the royal fathers, during his keynote address at the IA Foundation 2024 summit, themed; “Street to School: A tech-based Solution” held in Lagos on Tuesday.
In his remark on the opportunities and platforms IA Foundation has made open to out-of-school children in order to sharpen their future, the Oba gave intense commendations with a profound pledge in representation of other royal fathers, he said, “On behalf of all the royal fathers, we pledge our support to IA Foundation for the opportunity they are giving to the out-of-school children.”
Oba Ademola who ably represented one of the royal fathers, Oba Abolarin Adedokun, the Paramount ruler of Oke Ila, whose policy for education is to enroll the poor in his school with all necessary materials supplied, also lauded Oba Abolarin, regarding his charity and humanitarian services for the poor as his policy and criteria for admission into his school is the fact that such child must be from a poor family.
However, giving a testament of how he, being an illiterate village boy without ambitions, became an elite because of the help he received, Oba Ademola urged that everyone who has the capacity to help change a child’s story, take up the call and move to assist in raising the children into schools. He also stressed that by doing this, a generation has been lifted.
Meanwhile, the Founder, IA Foundation, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, FCCA, FCA, CPFA, during her welcome address, disclosed that she shouldn’t be concerned about out-of-school children professionally because she is not an educator but an accountant who doesn’t reside in Nigeria. With the revealed statistics, however, she realized the rising number of children out of school in the country and had the burning passion to save the children’s future.
Examining why we have a high level of insecurity in Nigeria, Mrs Adeagbo emphasized, “the children we refused to train and give formal education in the street have grown to fight and cause Menace and havoc back to the society. Therefore, if we don’t want the insecurities to increase, we have to pay attention to
this figure.
“Over 18.3 million children are out-of-school in Nigeria, this means over 18.3 of our future leaders and workforce aren’t giving the right knowledge today.
This is why IA Foundation is going about the street, sourcing them to get them to school and paying their school fees with the provision of necessary materials to sustain them in school.
This, she disclosed, “is not an easy task because their parents will be the ones to stop them from going to school again for them to return to the street to make money for the family. On our part, we have to struggle with the parents to let them know the child deserves to be in class and not on the street, hawking.”
Mrs Adeagbo stated that at IA FOUNDATION, they provide all necessary things needed for the children so the children can in return, cater for the family when groomed through formal education. Hence, the Founder expressed that the subject matter is something that is obviously evident and doesn’t need emphasis to get people working towards taking the children out of the street.
She urged all stakeholders to be intentional about dwindling the figure of out of school children and made a call to action, warning, “If not, even our children will suffer the consequences of this peril.”
Furthermore, the Board Chairman, IA Foundation, Mr Diran Famakinwa FCA, FCCA, MBA, reiterated the theme of the Summit and viewed the rising number of out-of-school children in Nigeria as a moral crisis, At the IA Foundation, he expressed that they are driven by the belief that no child should ever have to choose between survival and education.
“We have seen first hand, how access to education can break the links to poverty, not just for a child but for communities and the society at large and generations to come. The summit is to accomplish the quest to ensure a valid solution to the Menace.
“The fate of these children is a reflection of our collective responsibility,” he said. The chairman therefore urged all to collaborate across all sectors to build a Nigeria where all children will have access to education.
Also speaking at the first summit as the CEO of the Foundation, Laura Ede expressed her excitement for the turnout of the summit with a deep sense of responsibility, on the note that it is her first summit as the CEO of the Foundation. She said, “Nigeria is number one in the world with the highest number of out of school children. This tells us we have a lot of work to do.
The CEO detailed the summit held in the previous year, which was themed; “Street to School: A panacea to a Menace”, reiterating the discussions on the 18 Million out of school children which was a ten percent of the country’s population. Unfortunately she remarked that 10 percent of Nigeria’s population roam the street and emphasized the standout from the 2023 event, the determination and detailed solutions for advocacy, community engagement and resource mobilization.
Highlighting the progress so far, the CEO explained that the foundation launched the IA Portal in the month of March 2024 to ensure transparency and easy accessibility. This, she said, helps to connect donors to children in need directly. Hence she encouraged Nigerians not to back down in their support for out-of-school children.
However, Laura explained that this year’s theme: “Street to School: A tech-based Solution” is an address to what we need as a nation over the subject matter because “Technology is no longer a luxury but a necessity” she said.
The CEO therefore made a call to action for all to brainstorm, act, collaborate and ensure the summit surmounts to bringing more children out of the streets into the classrooms.
Moving further, Director General of DAWN Commission in Ibadan, Seye Oyeleye expressed the necessity to change our strategies and approach to education in the country. “The UNESCO 18.3 Million out-of-school children in Nigeria didn’t come up overnight.” He noted it was because there was a disconnect between policies and implementation. He also blamed this on the Allocation of funds due to poor data analysis.
Explaining that there are individual peculiarities hence the approach for different communities should differ and not be a one sided approach. “We have been doing the same thing over and over, so we need to keep evolving, the government should be above the people in its plans and not playing catch-up.
Submitting that we have young ones who are tech savvy in the world today, Mr Oyeleye explained that the government should help channel the tech skills in the right space and direction instead of scaring away from tech because of challenges of cyber crimes.
Meanwhile, the summit had two brilliant panel sessions dedicated to finding the way out of the out of school menace. The first session moderated by Dr Adeagbo was focused on the topic: “Out-of-school crisis: Is Nigeria ready for tech-based intervention?” The session featured Mrs Yinka Ogunde, CEO of Edumark Consult, Dr. Aderonke Kujore, Mrs Lande Abudu, Mr Wale Sangosanya and Mr Seye Oyeleye.
With panelists submitting that the government needs to look into restrategizing it’s approach to Education; key public players and decision makers should be well connected to the communities in order to improve people’s orientation of education.
Also, as regards cybersecurity while moving for a tech based approach to the education, Mr Wale Sangosanya noted the relevance of having development of cyber tools to safeguarding the young learners from cyber attacks and every form of cyber crime.
Additionally, the second panel session, moderated by Director, Synergize Datasoft Technologies, Mrs Abiola Obileye featured STEM Educator, Mayowa Egbayelo; Founder, techFam, Udeh Kelechi; COO, uLesson Group, Aniekeme Umoh; Security and Intelligence Analyst, Ruth Sunday Ki; Co-founder, Movil Digital Services Ltd, Mrs Bettina Ibemgbo; BI Analyst and IT Project Manager, Mr Kayode Kumapayi.
