An estate and investment company, Gafford Property and Homes has announced a scholarship scheme for indigent children from the northern part of Nigeria.
The group managing director, Mr. Gbadebo Olamerun, disclosed this at the company’s end-of-the-year party held in Ogun State recently.
Olamerun said, the gesture, which is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, is aimed at reducing the soaring number of out-of-school children, which has become a major crisis in the country in general and in the North in particular.
According to data from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), 18.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, a situation analyst see as dangerous to the nation’s quest to end insecurity and frequent social unrest.
Olamerun said: “youths are the owners of the future, and we know there is a future. That is why we are investing in these children”, calling on his friends both at home and in the diaspora to join him in this laudable initiative.
“We know it is a lot of money, but we are building a legacy; we are building a future that children yet unborn will see, pray for us and they will run with it.
“So, we as a brand have decided to go within the nooks and crannies of Ojodu, area of Lagos State and OPIC, Ogun State. We have looked out for children that are from the North that are not in school. And I am glad to tell you that we have found a lot of them that are also in school.
“The few of them that are not in school, Gafford Property and Homes has selected ten of them and have given them a scholarship.”
The beneficiaries as well as their parents, who accompanied them to the venue of the event, were full of joy and gratitude upon receiving the certificate of scholarship.
Different categories of award were presented to members of staff, who distinguished themselves in various areas of the company’s affairs. Chairman of the occasion, Otunba Femi Karina, who presented the awards, congratulated the recipients and urged them to see the feat as a reason to do even better.
Gafford Property and Homes is redefining real estate business, with a model that enhances affordability and customer satisfaction in major real estate destinations in Lagos, Ogun state and Asaba, the Delta state capital.