By News Editor
Shotomide who unveiled the theme of her year as Excellence in Service at a press conference which was held at the Insurance Brokers House, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos said she and her team will not rest on their oars until the communities they serve becomes better, the Lions club that serves them becomes satisfied and the organisation under which the service is rendered becomes well known in the country.
Shotomide, an Educationist and a school proprietor who was elected as the new DG on May 11, 2024, at Ibadan, will focus on eight areas of focus that includes; sight, diabetes, humanitarian causes, youth empowerment, childhood cancer, disaster relief, environment and hunger.
“When men look up to Lions, this year, we want them to see hope and solution,” she said, adding, that in every assignment that Lions Club will undertake this year, the mandate would be to deliver quality service.
According to her, there will be greater focus on humanitarian causes, and greater collaboration with sister organisations, community development associations, and government and the promotion of global causes through symposium, print publications, electronic media appearances, this Lion year.
She said: “We intend to produce great men and women that can sustain and take district 404 A3 to the next level hence with the help of our past leaders we would reproduce greater men and women who will take Lion’s Club higher.”
Speaking more specifically on her activities, Shotomide who will be formally unveiled on July 27, said the club under her leadership would be big on humanitarian activities, youth empowerment, and agriculture this year, adding that the focus regarding agriculture would be vegetable and fish farming.
The new District Governor while unveiling her plans for the Leos said under her leadership, the club would not only be open to innovations but would be willing to mentor the youths into ensuring that they develop their full potentials.
She said she would love to deliver on the district signature project, which is to acquire a property as Secretariat of District 404 A3.
Also speaking, the Multiple Club Chairman (MCC) LN Anogwi Anyanwu said the Lion Club which became chartered with 24, now has about 10,000 members nationwide while from a single district, Nigeria now has multiple districts and still growing.
He said the mandate of the Lions club International is to double membership and grow from just 1.4 million member club globally to 1.5million while those who are already members should key into the leadership development programmes in the club to keep growing in the club.
He urged the media to help propagate the good deeds if the club so that members of the society interested in serving their communities could join the club and be of service.
Another notable leader of the club Air Vice Marshall Anthony Okpere (rtd), said as part of its humanitarian gesture, the Lions Club runs a Motherless Babies Home at the Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, adding that the home, sitting on a 6,500 square metres of land donated by the Lagos State Government admitted its first set of babies in May 2003, and now has 57 babies in its home.
He said just recently, the home received a trans-gender baby for which efforts are being made to find a medical solution to the baby’s challenge.
Okpere, a former Minister of aviation praised all successive administrations in Lagos for their commitment to the Motherless Babies Home, adding that Same Abimbola Fashola throughout the right years in power paid the salaries of all the matrons in the home, while the present administration just approved an increase in the monthly subvention to the home from N500,000 to N750,000, even as he disclosed that the club spends N3.5 million monthly.
Okpere said the club would be interested to have more individuals and corporate organisations partner with with club as regards the home on a needs assessment basis, adding that the club looked forward to working with people with the heart of gold to partner with in its mandate to help humanity and promote humanitarian causes.