The O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation on Thursday February 4, 2021 joined the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and select Agencies of the Rivers State Government at the Inauguration of the Risk Communication Club for Schools in the State.
Speaking during the event, the Director, Programmes Optimization of the Foundation, Mrs. Imah Chris-Adegoke on behalf of its Chairman Board of Trustees, Dr. (Mrs) Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs, commended the multisectoral collaborative initiative of the Rivers State Government in setting up the Risk Communication Clubs.
According to her, “The O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation is pleased to be a part of the inauguration of the Risk Communication Club in Schools in Rivers State. As most persons may know, the O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, which is a great part of the legacies of our dearly beloved Grand Benefactor, High Chief Dr. O. B. Lulu-Briggs of blessed memory, has prioritized interventions in the Education sector for the past 20 years. These were done through various levels of Scholarships and Grant Awards to individuals and institutions both in Nigeria and around the world.”
In addition, she said within the last 20 years of the life of the O. B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation, infrastructural interventions have also been made in educational institutions from kindergarten to tertiary levels within Nigeria on account of the premium the Foundation’s Board and its Grand Benefactor place on education as a tool for social and human development. Mrs. Chris-Adegoke said it is part the Foundation’s ethos that, one child at risk in an educational environment is one child too many and therefore conveyed the Foundation’s commendation of the purpose for initiating the Risk Communication Clubs in Schools. On behalf of the Chairman, Board and Management, she extended the Foundation’s goodwill to UNICEF and the Rivers State Ministry of Education and all other Stakeholders on the successful inauguration of the Risk Communication Club for Rivers Schools.
Earlier, the Rivers State Commissioner of Education, Prof. Kaniye Ebeku while inaugurating the club said the idea of the Risk Communication Club was to put knowledgeable professionals together to help sensitize school pupils on strategies for recognising and avoiding potential health and social risks, and empower them with the requisite information on how to keep safe particularly in the current era of COVID-19.
The objectives of the club among others are to build champions and ambassadors that will be the vanguards of risk communication messages in and out of schools, educate and train students on how to imbibe confidence and self-esteem in order to be able to stand against social vices; and ensure that both public and private schools are well sensitized leading to the empowerment of school children with the right information on risk management.
Implementing partners of the initiative include the Rivers State Ministry of Information, the Rivers State Universal Education Board, the Primary HealthCare Management Board among others, as well as UNICEF, which is the Technical and Logistics partner of the programme.
