IA-Foundation raises over £24k for out-of-school children

Attendees and supporters of the IA-Foundation – a charity committed to reducing the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, raised over £24,000 at its recent 4th Annual Black-Tie Charity Ball held in London recently.

All funds generated through the event are to be channeled towards provision of bursaries to support the education of children who are out of school, with keen interest on the girl child, orphans, physically challenged and under-served children in hard to reach communities.

In her remarks during the event, the Founder and CEO of the Charity - Mrs. Ibironke Adeagbo reiterated the urgency of the need to salvage the future of Nigeria through collaborative social investment in the educational sector, especially one that is targeted towards reducing the 20.2 million out-of-school children in the country.

She highlighted the Foundation’s impact of providing quality education for 100 indigent children across 9 States in Nigeria, and distribution of over 3,000 learning resources to 100 families.

She noted that their work to date was a drop in the ocean in the midst of the millions of children who are not in school. She urged the audience to be a part of the army of impact makers whose donations would contribute to securing the future of not just the children but also the nation at large.

Prince Afolabi Andu - the Founder of the Nigerian Global Business Forum, while delivering his keynote address titled: “Securing the Future: the Imperative of Quality Education for All,” noted that providing education for one child in a family can be the game changer for generations from that family. He described Nigerians as people with great potentials to thrive and excel if given the opportunity, and appealed to the individuals and corporate organisations to create an opportunity for the thousands of children on the street by supporting educational initiatives.

In a goodwill message, former CBN Governor and the 14th Emir of Kano State - HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi thanked IA-Foundation for bringing the attention of the world to the state of education in Nigeria, with a view to mobilising resources to address the issue in part. Emir Sanusi noted that it is not enough to send a child to school, but very important to examine the quality of education that they are receiving. “It is important to have the teachers, the facilities and the curriculum. In Nigeria, we have horizontal inequalities where certain regions are more disadvantaged than others; with Northern Nigeria having the highest rate of out-of-school children.”

Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom - Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola who was represented by his wife - Mrs. Bolanle Isola, emphasised the importance of being intentional with dealing with the menace of out-of-school children, as this could have a negative impact on the human capital of the country, as lot of children are not getting education and those being educated are harvested by other countries.

The Chair of IA-Foundation’s Board of Trustees - Mr. Jide Olagundoye congratulated the executive team of the Organisation for the work and impact made over the years. He reiterated the Foundation’s commitment to its vision to reduce the barriers to education in Nigeria.

Further information about the Foundation’s work and impact are available on the website: www.ia-foundation.org, brochure and newsletters.