Victoria Island Chairman, Rasheedat Abiodun Hails Lekki Adult Literacy And Vocational Centre

By Taiwo Ibrahim

The executive chairman of Iru Victoria Island LCDA, Princess (Hon) Rasheedat Abiodun has showered encomiums on the trustees of the Lekki Adult Literacy and Vocational Centre for their role in contributing to the growth of the country in the area of education.

The highly-respected chairman was among the roll call of dignitaries from all walks of life who graced the graduation and matriculation ceremony of the centre on Saturday, November 4th, 2023.

Abiodun reserved special praises for the organizers of the Lekki Adult Literacy and Vocational Centre for bringing education and skill closer to the people of Lekki.

“I have not seen this happen in a couple of years and I am here to witness the graduation and matriculation. Apart from my message to the facilitators, these are things we have been looking forward to in our local government especially in Lagos.”

“When I assumed office, this was my clarion call to individuals and corporate bodies within the locality that the government alone can not do these things. If you want the best for the populace, you need to think outside the box and so far, within this local government, we have experienced a lot of individuals, corporate bodies, churches coming together to do this for the indigents.
None of them is below the age of 15 and if they can start learning at this age, we should applaud the organizers for reaching out to the community within their locality.

She also urged the graduants not to relent in their quest for education.

“For the graduants, it is not the end, this is a stepping stone to a greater height. Education is a process and even as a chairman, I am still learning.
I believe in education because no one can take away what you learn from you.”

The event was in conjunction with Lagos State Agency for Mass Education and Mr Adelani Akinpelu represented the agency.

He called on the learners propagate the gospel of literacy and to share their success stories.

“Learning and earning refers to the initiative that helps to learn skills, acquire knowledge. The more you learn, the more you earn. Life changes when you continue to learn, you have experience growth, we are able to retain our job if we learn. We spend our time doing something fruitful and there are other opportunities available if we continue learning.”

“To the graduating learners, do not relent. Propagate the gospel of literacy, share your success stories, and let people know the importance of learning.”

The coordinator of the Lekki Adult Literacy and Vocational centre, Joe Mbulu opened up on the objectives of the centre.

“We saw illiteracy as blindness or darkness, we have been here three years but this has been our most successful year by the impact we made in the lives of people. Some that passed out here have gone to write WAEC and gone to nursing school; that is the impact we want to make”.

We had exams and we saw that for 2023, and about 66 percent scored over 50% in literacy. Many couldn’t spell when they joined but today they can read and write. Our vision is to restore faulty foundations. We want to address foundational issues because if we don’t, we won’t go anywhere.”

Mbulu also shed more light on the topic for this year’s programme ‘Learning for Earning’ and called for more support from all and sundry.

“We are trying to train them to be more productive. We are looking at how to reach, what to teach and basic tactics. We want them to understand how to do basic business.”

“We want to strengthen the structure of our programme and we want to expand to other areas apart from Lekki so we need help with facilitators. We need to look into campuses in these areas and get people who are dedicated to run the same programmers. We need to establish strong partnerships with structured provisional centers. We need a strong funding base for sponsorship, those who need start up for business.

Some of the learners went home with awards with cash prizes, while the facilitators too received awards for a job well done.

One of the learners, expressed unreserved appreciation to organizers and facilitators for the quality of the education available to them.

“I want to thank everyone here today, it is a dream for some of us today and God has fulfilled it. I I felt love and compassion when I first came here. To teach someone who is of age is not an easy thing, I feel really loved. I got here three months ago and I felt I belonged here. I thank our great Mummy Chika because of her approach, I see a mother in her. Some of us couldn’t express ourselves but today, we can stand in front of multitude and address them.”