Girls Arise Initiative

My experience at WATFON is something I cannot express totally in paper because it was purely transformational. I never thought I will ever have the opportunity to visit such a beautiful place of interest. It was indeed a wonderful day for me. Although, my journey to the WATFON venue was a bit stressful, at least I got there on time. Upon entering into the hall of event, what I saw totally breathtaking! I saw so many students from different schools with their beautiful, colourful and well ironed uniforms. The staffs, the people, the lights especially the chandeliers were so attractive. Moreso, the convener Mrs. Yinka Ogunde was so warm and friendly. I was surprised to see her in person. Well, except that I do see her on Television stations occasionally, this was my first time of seeing her in person. My friend beside me nudged me to look up and I saw Senator Liyel Imoke! I told my friend with bulging eyes to please tell me that I wasn’t day-dreaming and she said it’s real. To cou...

Nigeria is a nation blessed with special people; people rich in culture and values; rich in fertile soil and mineral resources. However, despite the towering image and national riches, Nigeria’s endemic challenge is corruption.    How sad that the high level of corruption, lack of patriotism, negative-mindset of youths has eroded the glory of our nation. Our cherished values are far lost; our morals have been thrown to the wind. This and many more are the reasons that birthed the vision to rescue Nigeria and save the future of its youths. This same vision is what made the amiable educationist and mentor, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde initiate the program popularly called WATFON. We are the Future of our Nation (WATFON) is a platform for youths (secondary school student) to be educated, enlightened, motivated, inspired and guided to achieve greatness. An annual summit organized to bring youths face to face with role models as they discuss issues of national importance and how each ...

Talking frank about sex and sexuality! Our youths should know their reproductive health rights and needs. Thanks to our  youth mentors, Mr. Olalekan Akintunde and Mrs. Temitope Adetola, who did justice to the subject during the break out sessions. The youths sure had a swell time too; they had the opportunity to ask questions that Dad and Mum were not willing to answer. This year''s Val was real and memorable. It was also fun all the way. And trust me, there was lots of wining and dining too!

For anyone to be outstanding, he/she must be purposeful and committed to a set ambition. And for young girls, it is easy to dream and desire a future laced with roses and sunshine. Unfortunately some don’t even know what they want out of life. They are content with whatever life throws at them. The more reason why every girl should be inspired to dream; to have a future ambition and to be positive minded.   A future ambition can be something you desire to do in the nearest future, especially a career you earnestly desire as young boy or girl. And so, at our February 2017 meeting, we had an interactive session on this important topic. If you ask a small girl what she wants to become, she will definitely have something to say. But it is one thing to have an ambition; it is another thing for the ambition to be a worthy one. Interestingly, the girls also had a practical session as they wrote essays on “My Future Ambition”, highlighting what they desire and how they think their...

With Eytayo Alimi and members of Techy Girls Foundation when we visited IBM, Victoria Island

Today, I am worried about our sons, today’s young men. I am truly worried and every mother should pause, take a closer look at her sons and daughters and answer this question: Are you empowering your son for the journey ahead of him? Answer truthfully, after all you are alone and you don’t have to let anybody hear you. I think Nigerian mothers have not done well raising future husbands and fathers. Let’s admit it: we have not scored above average; that is if we achieved average at all. Take a closer look at your beautiful daughter and your handsome six-footer son. Who is better prepared for the task ahead? I know some of us had realised this and have done better than others but most Nigerian mothers need to buckle up. Our sons are not what they should be and we cannot have the society, the country we desire when we put unprepared men and overgrown boys in positions of authority. I’ll explain myself. In too many homes, the wives are the bread winners. Too many women are payin...

The need for renewed efforts to address the peculiar needs of out-of-school adolescent girls in slums communities has again been brought to the fore, but this time with a strategic plan to mobilize resources to maximize their potentials, provide increased access to education and health services. This is premised on fact that overwhelming majority of out-of-school girls have no say over their schooling and are indeed traumatized. Speaking recently at the Launch of Lagos State Government Plan of Action to Empower Marginalised Adolescent Girls, the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos State, Hon. Lola Akande explained that “Poverty and Gender Inequality are the driving factors prematurely end schooling for most girls.” According to her, “Girls who drop out of school usually do so for reasons beyond their control. Their labour may be required either at home or to increase family income. In families for whom the costs associated with schooling represen...

Goal setting is very important in life, especially at the beginning of the year. Without goal, there is no direction, no ambition, no dream to be successful, no drive to stay in school, and there is trouble doing anything meaningful with your life. This was the thrust of our first meeting for January 2017 at Girls Arise Initiative. Perhaps it was the first time many of them would be coming face to face with having specific goals and working hard to achieve it. What is a Goal? This was the question asked by the convener, Aunty Aramide. The torrents of answers given by the girls can include- Goal can be anything you want to achieve, desired outcome or result you want to see. Obviously, we set goals everyday even though we might not be conscious of it. “A goal can be your future ambition; a goal can be a desire to be the best in your class. You can set a goal to be a graduate at 20. A goal is anything you want and you are willing to achieve at a particular time.” ...

Ijegun is a densely populated community. I can call it an under developed community which with lots of youth with low mentality about education. There are a lot of youth and teenagers that are uninformed and don’t take education serious. As a result of this, there is high rate of school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, hooliganism etc. The poverty in this community has led youth to engage in different atrocities which later ended up in regret. Firstly, talking about teenagers dropping out of school, I can literally say that the cause of this is peer pressure. Most students have high thoughts of passing out in flying colours when they first started school. They started well and were determined to make their parents proud but in the long run, they lost focus and mingled with unserious and nasty friends who diverted their attention and lured them into bad behavior, e.g. going late to school, truancy, failure to do class work and bullying fellow students. And when they can’t withstand dis...

Saturday 24th December was our Christmas party with the Orphans & Vulnerable Children/Youths at our center in Ijegun, Ikotun, Lagos State. This year’s edition was particularly challenging because of the economic recession. We had promised our wards a swell time; but we didn’t have a dime. We needed food, drinks, snacks, candies, clothes, shoes and many other gift items to make it a fun-filled event. We sourced for donations but it was like nothing would happen. Four days to the event, calls started coming in. At some point I could not hold back my tears due to the dramatic way help came through for us. Finally, the D-day came and it was indeed a swell time. The community leader and his wife also graced the occasion in appreciation for all the good works and humanitarian services Bestspring Foundation is doing in the community. What joy it is to see and hear the testimonies of changed lives, of hope renewed and of divine intervention in the lives and circumstances of these peop...

Our meeting in November 2016, held on Friday, 11 th was thoroughly exciting and interactive. It couldn’t not have been any better as we discussed on the hot topic of- Early Child Marriage. In fact, it was a debate, with two teams, one supporting the motion and the other opposing it. Those in support of the motion were represented by Uche Calister and Achinnowu Olivia, while the opponents were represented by Ezeigbo Chiamaka and Ola Christiana. Uche Calsiter defined and explained what is meant by early child marriage and gave reasons why she believes it is a step in the right direction. Early child marriage helps to protect the girl-child from acts that can make her lose her virginity. ·         It also reduces promiscuity and chances of prostitution While Achinnoni Olivia added that ·         It enables parents to enjoy the pleasure of having their grandchildren early in life. On the other hand, th...

“Female Genital Mutilation is bad and should be stopped. It’s one of the ways through which the girl child is being oppressed.” This was the focal point of the interactive discussion at the October 2016 edition of Girls Arise monthly summit. How and why are girls oppressed through Female Genital Mutilation? In answer to this all important question, our girls argued that FGM, otherwise known as female circumcision is- ·         Violation of girls right ·         Death could occur during the process of circumcision as a result of excessive bleeding ·         The girl may not be fulfilled sexually in marriage ·         There are lots of psychological problems that come with it ·         There is risk of infection and other health hazards The subject turned out to be an eye-opener to the participants. ...

“Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are”.   That the popular parlance our parents/guardians use when they want to warn us against keeping bad friends. But the truth of the matter is that we cannot do without friends. We all need someone to lean on; somebody to share our lives, joys, sorrows, challenges and successes with. For youths, especially girls, the need is more pressing. This was the topical issue at the September edition of our Girls Summit. Many shared the experiences of how friends have helped them to improve in their academics as they studied together.   Others also said friends have been supportive at the time of need and even when they were discouraged. One of the girls, Hope testified of how her friend introduced her to keeping late nights with boys until she got raped. She warned that girls should be very careful because some so-called friends are actually enemies in disguise. “They have missed it but don’t want to be alone in their...