By Abayomi Elias

At the twentieth anniversary ceremony of CAVSI, the non governmental organisation reeled out its achievements since inception, urged influential and well meaning Nigerians to stop complaining but to rather contribute their quota to the development of the country.

According to Newsconnect reports  the acronym CAVSI stands for Children Academic, Vocational Support Initiatives.

The Founder of CAVSI Humanitarian Hakeem Babatunde Ariori in an interview with Newsconnect correspondence at the event took us back to memory lane, shared how the intervention started since he moved to Sango- Ota twenty years ago.

In his words, said;

“It started as a family project, we moved into Sango exactly 20 years ago. We noticed some students were going to school without footwears and without bags, so we said we have excess, why not share it among these children.

“Since we can’t just be calling students randomly to come and take, we started by organising songs and play to get them involved, at the end they get school materials that is how it started.

“Over the years, people saw what we are doing and they are also supporting us with different materials.

“What we are celebrating today is joy and a lot of achievements. We live in a local environment, and the little we do has transformed the lives of these different children into who they are today.

“We call some of them our ambassadors, we are training them to takeover from us in the future. We are training them as volunteers that there is need for them to give back, there is need to identify who don’t have and share from what you have with them.

“We are celebrating selflessness today that is, is not enough if we have and others don’t have, we are telling the world to identify the needy and share from what they have with them”.

“We are grateful for the students that had been consistent with us since the last ten years. If they are not gaining anything, they won’t be coming. We are grateful that over the years, the number of students participating are increasing, we are also changing our strategies by being practical with what we do.

“We are very informal with what we do and that has open a lot of students to learn different things about life. It is not just about the school life.

“One of the things we are emphasizing is that let not the classroom be your world, let the world be your classroom. We are encouraging them to learn wherever they found themselves.

“Whether they are playing games, wherever they found themselves, there is something to learn. We are grateful today that we have turned out a lot of students from over fifty schools.

“Some of them are here today, some of them are being rewarded today and we hope to continue because it is a call to serve.

“We are very grateful for those who have stood by us over the years especially my immediate family, my wife and my children, if not for their support, there will be no way this might have been done.

“We are doing everything in my house, lots of noise and so many things but they never complained.

“We hope to reach out to more underserved communities. We hope to reach out through schools. Since not all students can come to our programs but through schools, we can get more students”. Ariori said.

A social worker, Humanitarian Adeboye Olagunju who is also a volunteer facilitator at CAVSI shared the strategy he adopted towards moulding the children at CAVSI as leaders.

In an interview with Newsconnect, Adeboye said:

“I delegate leadership positions to these children, this is a strategy we adopt in influencing them. We then guide and monitor them.

“Children are happy when their guardians are happy and Vice versa. I ensure am happy when impacting this children and with that, I get the best of them and their attention.

“The only time children are not happy is when they are not interested with what is going on around them, even at home.

“Some don’t want to go home because they are not happy at home. The moment you can get what interest them, make them happy, then you can control them.

“You don’t need to use Cain to punish them, simply punish them with what you know that they like. At the time of sharing souvenirs to these children, rather than cain the noise makers amongst them, we ensure nobody that makes noise get nothing. I don’t believe in using cain most of the time on children “. He said.

CAVSI Ambassador and volunteer Emmanuel Olamide who had been a consistent winner in CAVSI’s activities shared the reasons behind her winnings and how she emerged as an ambassador.

In an Interview with our correspondence at the event said;

“I use to participate in CAVSI Long Vacation Daily Activities (LVDA), and the Easter activities. I had been a consistent winner. 2 years ago, there was a Jamb competition in which whoever wins becomes CAVSI ambassador, I won and I have since emerged as an ambassador.

‘I can attribute the reasons I have been winning to the school I went to, and my mom being a teacher.

“She always ensure I learn everything about something and something about everything. I would say that is one of the things that has boosted my ability to win”. She said.

A lecturer at a private University in Ago-Iwoye

Oluwafemi Adeniyi Ogunsiji who has been a contributor to all the programs of CAVSI gave kudos to the founder Ariori for not relinquishing his dream despite the fact that there is no much financial gains rendering such gesture.

He said;

“If you don’t have passion for a selfless intervention that has little or no financial gains, the idea wont fly.

“Kudos to Hakeem Ariori for doing this and not relinquishing his dream as a result of challenges and obstacles. Life is a continuum, Hakeem should build people that would survive him, so that his intervention can be lifelong activities”.

He urged the participants to go home and think about what they saw here, so they can also affect lives in their own little way. He said participants should identify an area where they can contribute to the society.

He said with that we can make the society better than we have it now.

“We should not just be complaining and expecting something good, we should learn from Mr Ariori, in a little form, try and make an impact”. Ogunsiji asserts.

Babaranti Titilayomi, a Nutritionist, Educator and Trainer who was newly appointed as one of the advisory board of CAVSI told our medium what was responsible for her emergence.

She said;

“Over the years I have worked with different NGOs, and I have always contributed my quota towards the development of humanity, I think that is what led to me being appointed. I feel good with the appointment, it is a charge to keep intervening in humanitarian gestures”. She said.

The Governor of Ondo State, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has given approval for the appointment of Dr. Michael Olumide Gbala as the Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) for the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital, Ondo.

A statement released to media organisations revealed that, in view of the ongoing restructuring of the teaching hospital, the following have also been appointed:

1. Dr. Adesina Lawrence Akintan is appointed as the Acting Medical Director of Akure Complex (State Specialist Hospital, Akure).

2. Dr. Adeola Oladele Akintade is appointed as Acting Medical Director of the Ondo Complex (General Hospital, Ondo).

The statement issued by Ebenezer Adeniyan, the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, disclosed that the appointments take immediate effect and shall be for a probation period of six months after which a substantive CMD will be appointed over a fully restructured UNIMEDTH in line with government’s desire to deliver quality, effective and efficient healthcare services to the good people of the State.

While congratulating the new appointees, the Governor expects the appointees to deliver their best for the people.

The leadership of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions, has review the level of compliance with the resolutions reached with the Ondo State Government on their agitations.

In a letter written to Governor Aiyedatiwa dated April 4, 2024 , signed by Comrade Tayo Ogungbeni the Chairman, JAC-ODSTI and

Comrade Kunle Akinwonmi the Secretary, JAC-ODSTI revealed that the Ondo State government is yet to fulfill it’s promises to the body.

The leadership of JAC noted that despite the meetings and intervention of well meaning stakeholders and government officials which led to the suspension of the previously held two weeks industrial action on 12th March, 2024 based on the promises that the Wage Award would be paid with the payment of March, 2024 salaries, none is forthcoming.

Read the full letter below:

His Excellency, Hon. Lucky O. Ayedatiwa.

The Executive Governor,

Governor’s Office,

Alagbaka Quarters,

Akure,

Ondo State.

*REMINDER ON PAYMENT OF WAGE AWARD TO THE STAFF OF ONDO STATE OWNED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.*

PREAMBLE:

The leadership of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions met at Akure to review the level of compliance with resolutions reached with the Ondo State Government on our agitations in respect of the following:

1. Payment of wage award of Thirty-Five Thousand Naira (#35,000) to our members.

2. Implementation of minimum wage of 2019

3. 100% Increment in monthly subventions to our institutions

The leadership of JAC noted that despite the meetings and intervention of well meaning stakeholders and government officials which led to the suspension of our two weeks old industrial action on 12th March, 2024 based on the promises that our Wage Award would be paid with the payment of March, 2024 salaries.

We observed with disappointment that as today, nothing has been done to pay the Wage award as promised by the state government despite several assurances that it would be paid by March, 2024.

It is noteworthy that other civil servants in the state had collected the 5th tranche of of their Wage Award without any consideration for those of us in the tertiary institutions throughout the state.

We, the entire members of SSANU, NASU and NAAT could no longer withstand the present harsh economic situation which the failure to pay this Wage Award has subjected us to.

In view of this latest development, we wish to state as follows:

1. The leadership of JAC of ODSTI once again reminded the State Government of their commitment and assurance to pay our outstanding five tranches of Wage Award to enable us be at par with other civil servants in Ondo State.

2. We wish to state that failure to pay us our Wage Award as promised could lead to industrial disharmony in the Ondo State Owned Tertiary Institutions .

3. ⁠We shall not hesitate to resume our suspended industrial action within 7 Days of this notice.

Thank you.

Comrade Tayo Ogungbeni

Chairman, JAC-ODSTI

Comrade Kunle Akinwonmi

Secretary, JAC-ODSTI