By Alifa Daniel, Abujaa.
Right behind the office of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and his Environment Ministry counterpart, now Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Amina Mohammed, is a Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School where pupils sit on the bare floor to take lessons right in the middle of the Federal Capital City, Abuja.
But Tuesday, a non-governmental organisation, Seat-A-Child Network pioneered by Mrs. Veronica Obende in Abuja is putting a smile on the faces of 150 pupils by providing them with desks and chairs.
She told everyday.ng in her Abuja office, alongside trustees, Messrs. Akinkunmi Akinyemi and Oludare Tanimowo that an experience with an orphan child led her to get her friends and others to contribute to the provision of 50 desks and chairs. Each desk with attached chairs takes three pupils.
Government officials are to grace the inauguration of the desks, which Obende said is a first step in efforts by her network to provide a conducive learning environment for children.
“A young orphan boy of school age, Isaac, was in the habit of coming to my estate at odd times during the day. I confronted him once and he told me his pathetic story of how he could not pay his fees and meet his needs in a public school. I had no choice but to rally round for him. The day I visited the school, I left in tears at what I saw in that school in Mabushi. It was in my neighborhood and I didn’t know such a place existed where pupils sit on the floor in an unbelievable environment. That was when I decided on the Seat-A-Child project to ensure our children who cannot afford our level of comfort are taken care of” Obende stated.
