For the Girl-Child, Rainbow Book Club Makes A Move
Yinka Olatunbosun
Rainbow Book Club in partnership with Total Energies EP Nigeria Limited, commemorated the 2023 International Day of the Girl Child. The two-day programme took place at the Bethesda Secondary School, Ikota, Lagos in October.
The event aimed at enlightening and inspiring the girl-child on several career paths, including encouraging them to develop interest in STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.
On a panel moderated by Koko Kalango— Founder of Rainbow Book Club (RBC), the TOTAL ENERGIES staff members, talked about their career trajectory, education, life lessons, and how books have shaped them. The students then engaged the panellists with incisive questions that bordered mostly on career choices and on how to fund higher education.
The 250 students and staff of Bethesda Secondary school participated over the two days.
The first day featured opening remarks by Evi Ifekwe, the Executive Director, People & Country Services, who led the team of six women (Abimbola Aigbe, Esther Ojum, Lilian Somiari, Nnenna Ofulue, Lolade Temitope-Ogungbe and Tonye Osifo).
In her closing remarks, the CEO of Bethesda, Oguchi Oforum, shared the vision of the agency to empower disadvantaged children to thrive, grow, and develop to their full potential.
On the second day, Tonye Osifo, Manager CSR, Education and Inclusion, led the team comprising six women ( Julia Obuotor, Ibifuro Olayomi, Florence Ilaka, Moyosola Areola, Ngozi Mbadike and Soso Adamawa) and one man (Adebola Bada). Osifo gave the opening remarks while Mrs. Rosemary Wantana, the principal of Bethesda gave an overview of the history of the school and appealed for support for the students, who are all on scholarship from donors.
At the end, participants gave positive feedback. Faith Ugbala, an SS 3 student, enjoyed the fact that the programme was not restricted to girls. Loveth Mmerkwe, a 15-year-old SS3 student, added: “Our dreams were indeed fed with hope and unforgettable guidelines about goals and setting them.”
The event rounded off with a donation of 116 books by TOTAL ENERGIES and Rainbow Book Club, to the school library.
TOTAL ENERGIES staff were gifted copies of a Rainbow publication: 100 years around Nigeria (Sights and Sound of Nigeria through the Eyes of Children), written by children from the 36 state and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Rainbow Book Club (RBC) is a non-for-profit organisation (NGO) that encourages reading for social development. RBC, is part of the Rainbow Foundation that successfully hosted the year-long UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 project in Port Harcourt, making it the first city in sub-Saharan Africa to win the prestigious literacy campaign award.
