The newly elected executive of Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Lagos Chapter, has been urged to collaborate strongly with the state government to enable the attainment of the association’s vision of making qualitative and affordable education accessible to every Nigerian child.
A member, AFED Board of Trustees, Mr. Orobiyi Dele Olatunji gave the advice in a remark during the election held in Anthony village, Kosofe Lagos.
AFED is the umbrella body of low cost private schools in Nigeria.
The election which was held amidst peaceful atmosphere was monitored by delegations of the association from all the educational districts in Lagos, with the State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo being the Special Guest of Honour.
Mr. Olatunji stated that Lagos State has a very rich curricular for primary and secondary schools as well as relevant educational programmes, which if well adopted will enable private schools deliver improved learning to their pupils and students.
While describing the election as the first of its kind, Mr. Olatunji urged the new executive to work tirelessly to implement the vision of the association in all AFED schools in Lagos, including ensuring that education quality assurance as set by the state government is implemented.
Shedding more light on the importance of the election, he explained that, “We are having an election to usher in new executive and this is actually very unique in the history of this association.
“The fact is that when this association started about 22 years ago,it has always been the executive of the state level here, that is Lagos State, that has been running its affairs. The association started here, so the executive here has always doubled as the national executive. But now that we are already having the association in other states, we deem it fit to have a separate executive for Lagos State and then have a national circuit that will cover all the states. Today we have the association in about 16 states including Imo, Anambra,Rivers, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and the rest of them. As we have had such a spread, the next thing we need to do is to separate the national from the state exco. And that is why we are holding this election.
“The election means a lot to us. Our target is that no child in Nigeria should be left out. And so, when we now have separate body at the national level, it gives us an opportunity to cover the states.
“So the charge on the newly elected executive in Lagos State is that they should realise that there is no way an association like ours that has educators in place, can reach the children who are our target without collaborating with government. That should be their primary objective. They should know what are the policies of government in terms of education, then reciprocate the same in our various schools. Then, also let the government know the kind of challenges we are having”, he advised.
Contributing, the Vice President of the association’s national body, Mrs. Omoye Ikero noted that it is in the character of AFED to work closely with government for mutual success, urging the newly elected executive to work hard to sustainable the friendly relationship with Lagos State Government.
Mrs. Ikero remarked that the presence of the Lagos State Education Commissioner, Mrs. Adefisayo at the event was a demonstration of the good relationship between AFED and the state government.
She said, “We are in Lagos State AFED election. It is the next executive that will work and sit for the next four years.
“We have seen the representative from our big mummy,the Commissioner; she has been a mummy to us and she has been good to us and ofcourse we are very proud of her.
We are very happy that she sent a strong team to represent her in this our election.
“We are working together with Lagos State. We obey their instructions. We don’t go out of their laws because we believe that together we can achieve our vision of education for all. Every child in this Lagos has the right to education. We don’t want to know the home you are coming from; all we are after is every child must be in school”.
In his acceptance speech, the newly elected Controller AFED, Lagos, Pastor James Larty-Larty promised that he will build upon the strong foundation laid by the association’s national President, Hon. Orji Kanu and his team, even as he promised to mobilize their members to key into the programmes of the state Ministry of Education.
“Like I said in my manifesto, we are going to build on the foundation that has been put together. We are going to ensure that we mobile our people at all the district levels and to be part of what the state government is doing in Lagos. The education commissioner is doing so much. I am going to mobilize all AFED members at all levels to be part of these programmes.
“I want to thank God for the foundation that Hon. Orji Kanu and his executive has built. Also,I am grateful for the peaceful election. I want to thank God again that those who are eligible were elected”.
The AFED Lagos controller who said history has been made by electing him and members of his executive, also promised to ensure probity and accountability, welfare of members and improvement of infrastructures in AFED schools, adding that “We will work tirelessly to further lift the association higher”.
The Special Guest of Honour, Mrs. Adefisayo who was represented by a director in the ministry commended the association for the peaceful and orderly conduct of their election.
Pledging to keep working with AFED towards helping it achieve its mandate, the commissioner asked private schools to at all times ensure that their environments are safe and conducive for learning, insisting that the ministry does not take issues of Child protection lightly.
