Gbenro Adesina
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has given a lifeline to two under age out of school girls: Amarachi Chinedu, 9, and Suwebat Husseini, 12, whom he found on Lagos street running an errand for their parents when they supposed to be in school.
According to information gathered, around 11am on Thursday February 3, 2022, the girls were going to deliver buckets of peeled beans and pepper to a grinder when the governor, who was on an official assignment sighted them at Anthony Village area.
On sighting them, he became uncomfortable and ordered his convoy to stop so that he could find out why the under age girls were not in school.
The governor after interacting with the girls, who told him that they were from Kano State promised to enroll them in school and sponsor their education.
The senior special assistant (SSA) to the Governor on New Media, Jubril Gawat, on his verified Twitter handle, wrote: Sanwo-Olu “momentarily halted his convoy when he saw two underage girls on an errand for a bean cake vendor during school hours. The girls Amarachi Chinedu and Suwebat Husseini who are nine and twelve years old respectively were going to deliver buckets of peeled beans and pepper to a grinder when the Governor sighted them at Anthony Village, a worrisome situation for Mr Governor, who revved his convoy to a stop to find out the reason the girls were not in school”.
Gawat explained as a result of interrogation, Sanwo-Olu discovered that though the mother of Amarachi is a teacher, she could not afford the current session’s tuition fees of her child and she would have to miss a school for a year because of that.
His words, “Suwebat’s mother is the bean cake seller for whom the girls were running an errand. Her parents, who are Jigawa State indigenes, relocated to Lagos months back. Suwebat’s four male siblings were all in school at the time she was stopped on the road by the Governor. But her parents preferred she stayed back home to help with some domestic chores. The decisions taken by girls’ parents, Sanwo-Olu said, could rob the little ones of their innocence, their future and put them at a disadvantage among their peers. The Governor stressed that his encounter with the girls left his heart bleeding”.
“Coincidentally, the Governor was on his way to formally launch Social Welfare Integrated Programme (SWIP) Initiative – a partnership between Government agencies and the private sector to standardise welfare administration for the vulnerable children, elders and those suffering mental disorder – when he saw the two girls roaming the street at school hours. Salvaging the situation, Sanwo-Olu, at the scene, told the girls he would personally take up the responsibility for their education and upbringing, promising to enroll them in school to continue with their education”, he added.
He said that the governor’s decision had been communicated to the girls’ parents.
