Mrs Ebele Iyiegbu, the Executive Director and Founder of the KIEK Foundation, says the potential of disadvantaged children can only be harnessed through basic education, nutrition and healthcare.
Iyiegbu, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Friday in Abuja, also called for other forms of social support programmes to ensure the smooth development of indigent children.
“For a disadvantaged child to thrive in a country like ours where the level of poverty is high, we must give them the necessary support.
“The support should be in the area of basic education, nutrition, healthcare provision and other social development programmes they need to attain their goals in life,” she said.
According to the executive director, the foundation’s recent partnership with Bata Nigeria on May 27, to mark 2022 Children’s Day at Dakwo Nursery and Primary School, FCT Abuja, is one of the ways KIEK is trying to reach out to the less privileged child.
She said the event, tagged; “Best Foot Forward”, had the KIEK Foundation and Bata Nigeria, donating more than 100 pairs of school shoes to the children.
Iyiegbu noted that the distribution of the school shoes was borne out of concern for disadvantaged school kids in public primary schools.
She expressed concern over the lack of basic provisions, such as shoes, for children who often attended school in worn-out footwears.
According to her, since its inception in 2017, the foundation had impacted more than 30,000 disadvantaged children across Nigeria, specifically in education, healthcare, and capacity development.
Iyiegbu said to this end, KIEK would continue to contribute its quota towards nation-building, by ensuring that the future of the Nigerian child was not jeopardised.