TRACKING>>The governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday, said given the right attention to the welfare and development of children in the state is sacrosanct and non-negotiable to the state government.
He said this was necessary because of whatever they (children) are today would determine their performance when they assume leadership positions in future.
Ambode made the remarks at the 2019 Children’s Day celebration organised by the state Ministry of Education at Agege Stadium, Lagos, with thousands of students in attendance.
Ambode, represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Mrs Yetunde Odejayi, while congratulating the students urged them to take their studies and other lawful engagements very seriously and also to be law abiding in and out of the school communities.
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Speaking on this year’s theme, “End Malnutrition: Protect the Future of the Nigerian Child,” Ambode said the state government had invested heavily in agriculture to promote not only food sufficiency but also good and balanced diets particularly among children and women of reproductive age in the state.
He, however, pointed out that to say 2.5 million children and seven percent of women in reproductive age are malnourished globally, quoting UNICEF statistics, is a very serious matter that needs drastic solution globally.
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Earlier in their separate speeches, the Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Ganiyu Sopeyin, and the Permanent Secretary of the education ministry, Mrs Adebunmi Adekanye, urged the students to be hardworking, diligent and focus so as to do well now as students and in future.
They also asked them to shun all form of vices such as thuggery, drug addiction, fighting and examination malpractice, among others.
They said none of the vices could do them any good than to truncate their good ambitions and future.
