Group donates books to secondary schools in Lagos

Association of Nigerian Women Academic Doctors (ANWAD), a non-profit organisation, has donated books to five secondary schools in Lagos state.

The association made the donation during its fourth global conference with the theme “Research and Policy: Development Perspective”.

The conference featured different speakers who highlighted the need to back development policies with research for effectiveness.

It commenced with a charity project that involved book donations to Babs Fafunwa Millenium Grammer School, Ojodu, Cayley College, Ikeja, Oxbridge Tutorial College, GRA, Ikeja, Greenland Hall College, Ifako-Ijaye and Oueens College, Yaba.

Speaking during the book donation, Henrietta Okoro, founder of ANWAD, said the association was founded to promote academic excellence among female students in Nigeria.

“The aim of this conference is for policy restructuring and improving academic quality in Nigeria for development. We want educated women to attain a doctorate degree and be able to use their full potential in impacting the society as well as functioning well in their various academic disciplines,” she said.

“We do publications and research so that we can find solutions to problems. Without carrying out a research, you’d be unable to identify what is causing problems in the nation, but with research, you’d be able to identify these problems, then you can now advise the government who in turn applies it to restructure policies.

“We are here to do our normal charity funding; to empower the young ones. We have gone to five schools for books donation to equip their library. Because for you to help the teachers to teach, we need to give them the resources, and as well, the students need the resources to perform better.

“We plan to reach out to all 36 states in Nigeria to improve quality education by helping the government in equipping schools with state-of-the-art learning materials.”

Patricia Momah, president of ANWAD, said the association tries to bridge the gap of gender inequality by encouraging females to attain their highest potential in leadership positions.

“As you can see, ANWAD is an association of  female doctors that have come together using their intellectual resources towards socio-economic development of Nigeria,” she said.

“The organisation is to inspire our female children, especially the young ones, into knowing that they can aspire to be academic doctors. We encourage female education with the aim of getting more doctorate degree holders in our midst.

“We try to motivate and empower the young ones. We want to start training the young ones from the scratch to be part of us. We want to see more of us out there.

Celestine Njoku, a keynote speaker at the event, said: “There can be no meaningful development at any level of the economy without appropriate research, right policies and good governance.

“These factors can be addressed within the context of educational reforms in the country; if Nigeria gets her education right, then every other thing will fall in place.”

Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, senior special assistant to the president on sustainable development goals(SDGs), said the SDGs clearly recognise that quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives.

“Nigeria’s development and progress are heavily linked to access to quality inclusive and equitable universal education for all gender groups, including those with disability,” she said.

“Policy makers and development practitioners need robust research findings to make well-informed decisions that produce positive development outcomes.”