This year’s Valentine’s Day was very special for 445 students of Rochas Foundation College, Enugu, as a non-profit organisation, Ibidapo Lawal Foundation, collaborated with the school’s owners to make the event quite memorable for them.
A partnership between the two organisations translated to the school’s maiden Valentine’s show. The Ibidapo Lawal Foundation, in the spirit of the season, showered love on them as it donated books, academic materials and food items worth millions of naira to about 8,000 students of Rochas Foundation Colleges.
Rochas Foundation owns and manages 13 schools in different states of the six geopolitical zones of the country, which all benefited from the donation. The schools are located in 10 cities, namely, Kano, Sokoto, Zaria, Bauchi, Calabar, Jos, Enugu, Owerri, Yola and Ibadan.
Daily Sun gathered that the Ibidapo Lawal Foundation’s donation was to help and support indigent children have access to quality education. It was also a way of demonstrating love and providing comfort to children of the under-privileged in parts of the country.
The students, teachers and parents could not hold back their joy over the gesture.
Senior prefect, Nnaji Peace Obumneme, who confirmed to Daily Sun that it was the first of such programmes in the school, applauded their benefactors, Sen. Rochas Okorocha and Mr Ibidapo Lawal.
She said: “I feel very happy because many students have not been through this opportunity before. I am opportune to be celebrating Valentine’s Day with the whole school. It was never a part of my story. I am very happy.”
She said: “I feel very happy because many students have not been through this opportunity before. I am opportune to be celebrating Valentine’s Day with the whole school. It was never a part of my story. I am very happy.
Nnaji Peace Obumneme
Her male counterpart, Ikeora Joseph, said although the event took place two days after the Valentine’s Day, the feeling was quite awesome as the programme of activities further helped them to imbibe the essence of the season.
“To me, Valentine’s Day is a season of love. Love can be expressed in different ways but thus far, our founder has made love a reality with free education and the sponsor, Lawal, has made things right. Today, we are all products of love due to the free education he has given us, he has shown us love and we are celebrating that event today,” Ikeora said.
Head of the school, Prince Stanley Ekeji, in a chat said love has remained the pillar of the college.
As a non-governmental, non political, non-religious organization, he said that Rochas Foundation established the college in Year 2000 to make sure that children from less privileged homes got quality education and “their background will not be a reason why they should not go to school. So, what we are doing here is basically a celebration of love. This foundation is built on love. If not because of the love that the Founder, His Excellency, Anayo Rochas Okorocha, has for education and for the indigent, I don’t think the foundation will be established in the first place.”
He also expressed gratitude to the founder of Ibidapo Lawal Foundation for making it possible for them to celebrate love and put smiles on the faces of the children and their guardians.
Asked about the sustainability plans, Ekeji appealed to public-spirited Nigerians and organisations to help them make it an annual celebration.
“You can see the excitement on the faces of the students and the guardians. They are all happy because this is actually the first time that we are having this kind of event. We are pleading with other organizations to partner with the foundation to bring this joy and smile on the faces of students and their guardians,” he said.
The students and their guardians participated in various games and competitions including the chair challenge, debates, dancing, book presentations, recitations, poem recitations and much more. Some of them received prizes.
