A serving member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kogi, Miss Aderonke Adeoye, on Wednesday donated 688 sandals to less privileged primary school pupils in Lokoja to encourage them to go to school, WITHIN NIGERIA reports.

Donating some of the sandals to the pupils of Lokongoma Primary School, Lokoja, Adeoye said the gesture was to make the children happy and encourage them to always go to school, as well as to enable them to realise the importance of education in life.

Adeoye, who is an indigene of Ekiti State, said a total of six different primary schools in Lokoja would get the shoes.

“Some of the children wear slippers to school while some wear spoilt sandals which make them look very rough and dirty.

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“I want to make the children happy and encourage them to always go to school and to let them realise the importance of education in life,” she said.

She enjoined fellow corps members to make an impact on the lives of the less privileged children, saying, “it is part of what we were taught in our orientation camp – to serve our fatherland wholeheartedly”.

She thanked the Kogi State Board of Internal Revenue for its support as well as other philanthropists in the state for their financial and moral support.

Speaking at the occasion, the state Commissioner for Education and Science, Rosemary Osikoya, advised the pupils to make good use of the sandals by wearing them to school.

Osikoya, who was represented by Mr Femi Sunday, the Director, Education Support Service (ESS), advised parents not to sell the sandals but use them for the benefit of their children.

He further urged the parents to pray for the corps member for putting a smile on the faces of the children.

“Giving to the less privileged is what I love doing and God is the only one that can reward givers,” she said.

The benefiting schools are Kabawa Nursery and Primary school 1and 2, Serikinoma Nursery and Primary school; Maadi Nursery and Primary school; Liwaul-HAMDI Nursery and Primary School; St. Mary’s L.G.E.A Nursery/Primary School 1, and Lokongoma L.G.E.A Nursery/Primary School, Lokoja.