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The Lekki Adult Literacy Centre And Vocational Centre is set to launch its kick illiteracy out of Lagos state campaign in a way to empower and restore hope to Lagosians who are interested in learning in order to be valuable to their societies.
The movement, which is one of the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God (RCCG) LP 20 started in 2020 out of the need to bridge the gap between the elites and ordinary populace who are disadvantaged for lack of education.
According to the provincial pastor of Lagos Province 20, Pastor Tunde Natufo who is also a member of the board of trustees, the organization is to transform the lives of those around the catchment area of RCCG LP 20. He mentioned that Lekki Adult Literacy Centre is existing to allow the disadvantaged populace get knowledge which will in turn boost their confidence in relating with people.
‘’As we all know, education is a key to life and we know it provides confidence, knowledge which is power. Looking at all these, the mandate given to us by our father, Pastor EA Adeboye who has told us to give back to our immediate community. The need to give back cannot be overemphasized, what we render is the gospel and it is for the total transformation of man. You can’t be transformed and be on the same spot and when the idea came, we jumped at it and ever since then, it’s been a successful story.’’
‘’We had our first major event sometime last year and it brought the ministry of education in Lagos, education at this level is a collaboration, it’s a thing that one person can’t do. God has really helped us. There used to be very huge gap between the elites and their drivers, nannies, domestic staffers but today, we have been able to bridge that gap.’’
‘’This is just the beginning, we will try as much as possible to deepen knowledge and we are also trying to expand our reach. There is no way we will do what we are doing today that the value, economic capability of the beneficiaries will not improve. Education is a basic tool for social communication but when there is no education, it tells on the self-esteem.’’
‘’In the world today, the highest paid is the one that uses less energy, the lowest paid is the one that exerts more energy when it comes to the physical, the difference is knowledge and that’s what we have come to manage. Some of these people have knowledge too but education will fast track both the understanding and the passage to transfer that knowledge. That’s what we have been doing and by God’s grace, we will continue to do.’’
Also, Deacon Joe Mbulu, who is also a coordinator and a trustee stated that the movement discovered the influx of people into the Lekki area but it was difficult coping with the requirements for survival and end up becoming maids to the elites. As a body of Christ, RCCG picked up the responsibility of impacting knowledge into them.
He also explained that many of the illiteracy problems are foundational therefore, Lekki Adult Literacy And Vocational Centre took it upon itself to address the psychological issues too.
‘’As a body of Christ, our responsibility is not just to feed the soul, we are to also be light in the society and education is part of it. We have seen a lot of influx of people into the Lekki area but as people come, we see they can’t cope with the requirements of today’s world. Knowledge is power, it is important that we teach them how to write so they can relate with people because most can’t read simple things, they can’t even read job advertisements so they will end up being house girls, house boys, maids, etc. considering this, we started this movement in October 2020 with about 20 learners but as people came in, we quickly realize our vision had to go beyond teaching them how to read and write, we discovered that the problem is not just reading and writing, it’s foundation’’
‘’Some didn’t go to school because their parents didn’t have money to send them to school, some was gender discrimination, some lost their parents and with this circumstances, they were psychological challenges. Our vision was to repair faulty foundation because when we make people believe they can learn, when they believe there is a future for them, we can teach them anything.’’
‘’We have taught people not only how to read and write but to believe in themselves. One key element is what we call the morning charge. We bring people to encourage our learners, we have about 17 facilitators and people within, outside the church join us.We have spent time encouraging them, letting them know their past cannot determine their future and the joy of learning comes back. We see people happy learning ABC as simply as that. People come here with lost hope but within few weeks with us, they get joy in the learning process and that gives us so much joy.’’
‘’In the last one year, we have been able to build our structure like that of a corporate organization, we are not just selling reading and writing, we are restoring hope.’’
Furthermore, while speaking on the Kicking Illiteracy Out Of Lagos Campaign, Mrs Chika Idalah-Allison, the lead facilitator stated that it is to celebrate the second matriculation of learners and to call on the government to take the education of Nigerians very seriously especially at a time like this when most institutions are on strike.
She narrated briefly how the structure of the organization is and how the programme is run for the learners.
‘’Looking at our educational sector, most of our tertiary institutions have gone on strike. If we don’t look into things that will make our government be passionate about education, very soon only God knows what will be the hope of education for our young ones.’’
‘’ In our own structure here, we run every Saturday because our learners are drivers, market women, cooks, households, nannies, and all working at different households within Lekki phase one. They are always at work during the week and on Saturday at 11am, they all come to school to learn how to read and write.’’
‘’Beyond reading and writing, we are building an exceptional structure for them whereby they get the things they would get in formal settings. Sometime last year, we had to take our learners on excursion to UNILAG because we want them to be more visionary towards going further after learning how to read and write and be value oriented to their community, Lagos state and Nigeria.’’
‘’In addition to our structure, every month we celebrate our learners by celebrating their birthdays for them. We make them look forward to learning and these are adults who are so excited coming to school. Going forward, we also partnered with the Lagos state government.’’
‘’Our structure is like a win-win situation whereby when the bosses allow their domestic staffers learn to read and write, they get morally equipped in relating with their bosses and that’s why for our brand campaign this year, we are looking at Kick illiteracy out of Lagos state.’’
