It was a gathering of professionals, business magnates and well wishers at the weekend as they converged on the island at the popular law school to felicitate with their own, Lion Ano Anyanwu, who was officially decorated as the President of Yaba Lions Club of District 404A.The newly installed President has over 22 years experience in banking and his career spans operations and customer service management, financial controls, inspection and audit, credit, relationship management and retail and commercial banking.In his acceptance speech, he promised to live up to expectations and make the club attain all its goals with the support of members of the board and the entire members.Speaking with Nigerian Compass after the ceremony, he reveals his plan for the club. His words: 'I feel happy at my installation today as the 32nd president of the Yaba Lions club. I am someone who likes to serve the people in all capacity. In my programs, we shall visit the destitute home in Makoko area and we would share food and clothing to them. We would also pay a visit to people's club in Yaba to make donations of cash, clothing and we would also visit the motherless babies home to make donations of food items to them. We have already visited the motherless babies home and we painted the hallway because when we visited, they told us they wanted the hallway painted because it has not been painted for a long time and we've started for now. 'We also visited the Mother Theresa Sister motherless babies home in Ketu that caters for motherless babies. It also caters for all kind of children with deformities and there are also 20 children with syndrome and they look after them. There are also HIV patients who have been abandoned by their families that the home look after so we visit them and make donations of cash and food items. The major project I have is to renovate the library on Herbert Macaulay way Yaba, we want to make it more comfortable for reading, we want to stock it with more books. We also want to install computers to make it a virtual library.' In addition to that, we are going to buy brail books, that the blind people read with and we are going to buy these books for school for the blind and the school for the blind and the one at Osodi .We have already approached them and they will share the books with the students and we have approached the people who sell brail books that would bring those books to the students and that's all we are going to do in this lionistic year and that is why I am looking for 10 million naira from my friends and I think today, we may have raised close to N3 or N4 million. The President also spoke on why he joined the club. His words : ' I would say that I'm a great beneficiary of other people's humanitarian services and from secondary school, I had philanthropists who saw me through the university and that is why I like to help other people in need. I am a christian and if you read the bible, it says Jesus went about doing good and as his follower, I am under obligation to do same. God gave me the heart that likes to see smiles on people's faces. It is a difficult thing to do because sometimes you find yourself going without helping those in need and these are the things that motivated me.'Anyanwu revealed also to Nigerian Compass on how he joined the club. According to him, 'In 1995, I was at Surulere and one of my friends, a senior friend and a senior banker told me of how they go about building boreholes for motherless babies home and I felt I should join them. I asked him how I would become a lion and he invited me to the club and I attended the meeting three times after that, they agreed to admit me and that is how I became a lion in 1995 and since then, we've been trying.Other members of the executive who were inaugurated includes Lion Onwukwe, the immediate past president, Gbenga Odumosu, 2nd Vice President, Ladi Awotinde, the Secretary, Adeola Ajala, Cyril Imaralu, Kareem S. A, Obafemi Adewale, Modestus Okoro and few others.The Secretary, Awotinde, also spoke with Nigerian Compass. His words: ' Today is Anyawu's investiture as the 32nd president of Yaba Lions club and that's why we are here, it's been an atmosphere of joy.'On his plans as the Scribe, he said : 'We always have a plan for every year. Whatever the president wants to do, we try as much as possible to make sure we support him. We have done so much in the past including this year. We've discovered that people don't read very well like before and there is barely what you can do without education, so we try as much as possible to instigate and rejuvenate the reading culture in our people. 'We are going to buy a lot of books and we are going to renovate libraries to make it conducive. If you go around the town, the kind of places they call library are not conducive because you find it very difficult to read and think in such places. We plan to renovate the libraries like the public library on Herbert Macaulay way and the schools around us and around our metropolis because that is where the club is located. We try as much as possible to imbibe the reading culture in the pupils.On the challenges he is anticipating, he said: 'Well, there would always be an impediment but we try as much as possible to be on top of that. You've seen people coming up with their support and widows mite. We try as much as possible to tell people that they don't have to give all they have. There is no amount that is not acceptable. The little we have, we pool it together. It is a synergy, a school of thought and with the little we've put together, we get to put smiles on some people's faces and if you have much you donate, if you have little, you also donate. The economic situation is an impediment but we can't close our eyes and that would not stop us from performing our responsibilities and uplifting our people and make sure that the less privileged are cared for.The Club which was founded in 1917 by Melvin Jones, a 38-year-old Chicago business leader, told members of his local business club they should reach beyond business issues and address the betterment of their communities and the world. Jones' group, the Business Circle of Chicago, agreed.After contacting similar groups around the United States, an organisational meeting was held on June 7, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The new group took the name of one of the invited groups, the "Association of Lions Clubs," and a national convention was held in Dallas, Texas, USA in October of that year. A constitution, by-laws, objects and a code of ethics were approved.Within three years, Lions became an international organisation. Since then, the group has earned high marks for both integrity and transparency with a steady vision, a clear mission, and a long and proud history which Anyanwu promised to sustain in his acceptance speech.
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