Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday, celebrated his 66th birthday at the North East Children’s Trust and the Learning Centre, in Borno State.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement he signed late Wednesday titled ‘Osinbajo marks 66th birthday in Borno with restored northeast “Insurgency Orphans”, who call him daddy.’
The North East Children’s Trust is a private sector-led charity and social engineering initiative incorporated in 2017 with a mission to create innovative, transformational sustainable learning ecosystems that will nurture, renew and empower vulnerable children between ages 5 and 18 years who have become orphans as a result of the insurgency in North-East Nigeria.
The NECT has provided comprehensive support to 686 orphaned and vulnerable children through accommodation, feeding, quality education and rehabilitative psychosocial support.
He led the efforts that produced the North East Children’s Trust and the Learning Centre in 2016.
Osinbajo who began his day with a quiet morning devotion service at his Aguda House residence in the Presidential Villa proceeded to Borno alongside his wife, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo.
On arrival at the Nigeria Air Force Base, Maiduguri, he was received by Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, who was accompanied by his wife, Falmata Zulum, and other top government officials.
He then proceeded to the NECT Learning Centre where children of the institution had a lineup of activities to mark the day.
There, Osinbajo reassured the staff and children of the institution of his commitment to continue providing world-class facilities that would make them the best among their peers, regardless of the prevailing socioeconomic conditions.
“All of you children who are here, one thing that is very certain is that God giving me good health and preserving my life, I will ensure that you get the very best.
“However it is, we will do everything possible to make sure that you get the very best, because that is the promise and pledge that we made when we started.
“My wife and I consider the children of this school our own children; we want to give them the kind of education that our own children have had, which is why everything that is being done here is done to the best standards available anywhere in the world,” the Vice President noted.
In his remarks, Governor Zulum, who was represented at the school by the Secretary to the State Government, Usman Jidda, thanked the Vice President for his firm commitment to the education and plight of the vulnerable.
Jidda said the establishment of the school shows the VP’s kindheartedness and concern for the downtrodden in society.
Similarly, the Commissioner of Education, Abba Wakilbe, said the people of Borno State will always remember Osinbajo as the first person who responded to the plight of the over 56,000 children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency by catering for their educational needs.
Those present at the event were the Vice Chairperson of the NECT board, Prof. Hauwa Biu, among others.