Early next year, Chijindu Eze Foundation will be launching a book titled 'Child Health and Safety in Nigeria', which it wrote as part of its efforts to promote the welfare of the Nigerian child. Executive Director of the Foundation, Saint David Eze in this interview speaks on the proposed launch of the book and other activities of the group, among other issuesAbout the FoundationCHIJINDU Eze Foundation came into being in May 8, 2010. The date made it one year the ugly incident that led to the death of my son took place. He was a student of one of the high profile schools in Nigeria today. He was a boarding student. Unfortunately the school took him on a swimming excursion even though we, his parents, did not register him for swimming as one of the extra curricular activities he could engage in and in the process he got drowned.So, his death was as a result of carelessness on the part of the school in question. In the first place, there was no parental consent. Secondly, when they got there, they had no safety kits or trainers and 53 of the students were in the swimming pool at the same time. Meanwhile, that was his first time and he died in the process.As a result of that, we decided that we might have lost Chijindu but cannot recline ourselves people who don't God. So, we said that the best legacy the death of Chijindu will bequeath to Nigerians is to have something established in his memory to ensure that such ugly incident does not happen to any Nigerian child again be it in the schools. That was how we established Chijindu Eze Foundation to advocate for the preservation and protection of the rights of the Nigerian child and ensure that they are no longer abused, molested or neglected wherever they are.How will you measure the foundation's success so far'We have been creating awareness on this through sensitisation exercises such as campaigns and road walks. In order to do this effectively, we collaborate with other like minds such as spirited members of the public, the media, schools, civil societies, other non-governmental organisations, governmental agencies especially the Ministries of Health, Works, and Youth Development and international bodies like UNICEF that carter for the interest and welfare of children.Through these collaborative efforts, we have visited many schools especially in Lagos State and that gave us an insight into how these schools are run. We discovered in the course of our visitations that most of these schools are mere glorified structures. A lot of them don't have adequate classroom, sick bays equipped with First Aid kits, qualified care givers or teachers to take care of the children and even a good environment for learning.We decided to do something about this and had to procure First Aid kits that we distributed to some of the schools. The Foundation has spent in over N1 million on this project.One interesting aspect of our activities is that we use the opportunity to lecture the staff of the schools on how to care for the children and also educate the children about their rights and how they can assert them.What challenges have you faced'Funding is one of our major challenges. We have not been receiving much from donors and so have been spending our personal money to fund the Foundation's programmes. What we have been trying to do is to firmly establish the foundation and prove to the society that we are sincere and only want to make a positive impact in the lives of our children and ensure that our future is bright because anything that happens to these children today would certainly affect our future. These are the people that will take over from us and it is expected that we groom them well and prepare them for the challenge of securing the country's future.Apart from the challenge of funding, the perception of the Nigerian public is also a problem. You find out that even some adults still abuse children under their care despite the awareness. Some them still send children to go and hawk when they are supposed to be in school. But we tell people that whatever they do to their children, it is expected that they should do it to another person's children because they don't know tomorrow. You might not be there tomorrow and another person will take over the training of your kids. When people know the right thing to do and do that, the society will be better for it. That is why we go about educating people.Also, the public perception of Non-Governmental Organisations in this country is part of our challenges. There are so many 419 NGOs in the country today, which were floated to make money from members of the public and international donors. So, people feel reluctant to part with the little they have because of their past experiences. So we tax ourselves to fund the Foundation. Most of those behind it are working and have been contributing their little quota to support its programmes. So, integrity and accountability are our watchwords. Our books are open to anybody who wants to look at them.To what extent has the efforts of the foundation impacted on the welfare of the Nigerian child since inception'Through the activities of the Foundation, a lot of changes have taken place in our schools. Today, people who are in charge of supervising or monitoring the activities of these schools have set higher standards. The caregivers are becoming more trained in our schools. The government has been working with the points we highlighted in the communiqu issued in the past. This is especially true of Lagos, Anambra, Ebonyi and Delta States, among others. So, our sensitisation campaigns have been working and we are intensifying our efforts.
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