Students numbering over four hundred, who were selected from the three secondary schools in Igbodo kingdom, Ika North East Local Government Area, have lauded the organizers of the “We Lead Mentorship Programme,” which according to them has helped in making them understand the benefit of having good moral values and how to relate with members of the society.
The excited students made the commendation at the newly renovated school hall of Comprehensive High School, Igbodo, on Friday November 23, 2018, to mark the end of the six months mentorship training programme organized by the Igbodo Development Union in conjunction with Union Bank of Nigeria Plc being the major sponsors and RUDERF a Non Governmental Organization, one of the organizing partners.
In his address Mr. Olusoji Ogunbaji, the Delta State Zonal Head of Union Bank Nigeria Plc who represented Mr. Joe Mbulu, the Group Managing Director of the bank congratulated the participants who have gone through the life transforming programme in a bid to prepare themselves for a better future. He also congratulated the entire Igbodo community on the successful hosting of the Mentorship programme as part of the efforts is to transform the lives of the youths. He emphasized that Union Bank is committed to improving the lives of Nigerians through initiatives such as this, with talent development as one of their corporate Social Responsibility pillars, other pillars being agriculture and financial literacy. Continuing, he stated that they will continually strive to support the development and empowerment of indentified talents in Nigeria.
Mr. Ogunbaji, disclosed that in the past one year, the Mentorship programme has been able to directly impact 20 mentors as well as 400 students across three schools. He appreciated the teachers, counselors, corps members and community members who served as mentors. He further revealed that participants at the programme benefited from a series of training on health, leadership, cultism and personal effectiveness among others; disclosing that to demonstrate the leadership skills harnessed, the participants embarked on community projects like tree planting for environmental preservation and clean-up project around the community. He urged all the participants to share what they have learnt and positively influence other youths who did not have the opportunity to participate in the programme.
In a brief remark, Mr. Benedict Nmorka, the Assistant Director in the Ministry of Youths and Sport Delta State, who represented the Honourable Commissioner for Youth and Sports Delta State, while appreciating the organizers of the programme and the traditional ruler of Igbodo kingdom, the President General and members ,of the community, noted that with the rate of moral decadence in the society, it is very necessary to have good values added to the children, hence the idea of putting in place a highly disciplined youth is the watch word of the ministry which if sustained will reduce criminalities, cultism, truancy and violent behaviours among the youth. He congratulated the students beneficiaries of the training programme and wished them well in their future endeavours.
In the same vein, Deacon Mathew Okwaje, the President General of Igbodo Development Union Worldwide and Mr. Odiase M.A. the principal of Comprehensive High School, Igbodo in their separate remarks, noted that the Mentorship training has increased the leadership awareness of the students and they appreciated the organizers of the prorgamme. They noted that with the end of the programme the students are marking the beginning of a success history in their lives having gone through a comprehensive training, saying that they expect them to teach others what they have learnt and also to be good ambassadors of Igbodo community and Nigeria at large. They also encouraged the beneficiaries to show values that will make the organizers of the programme to be happy that they identified with the laudable programme.
Speaking with Ika Weekly Newspaper reporter some of the students, namely; Elizabeth Chimdindu, Adu Victor, Nnawueze Uche, Eboagwu Uche Olivia in their separate remarks revealed that the Mentorship programme has affected their behaviour generally and has also exposed them to new things saying that the programme has taught them to set goals of which they have also decided to be more serious with their studies.