Emir Gives CELF Royal Blessing; Calls For More Support and Partnership

The Emir of Shonga in Kwara State, Alhaji (Dr) Haliru Yahaya Ndanusa has on Sunday called for more support and partnership for the Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship (CELF), describing the fellowship as an important educational intervention in Nigeria.

Dr Yahaya, who gave the charge during a courtesy visit to the CELF camp said the programme had continued to up the scale and sustain its vision of serving as a platform of opportunity for students from humble background across the State. 

Dr Yahaya, a UK-trained medical doctor, therefore, appealed to individuals, corporate bodies and governments to partner with CELF in order to further expand educational opportunities as well as reduce unemployment through skill acquisition programmes, reduce rerural-urban migration and the number of dropouts from secondary schools.

Speaking further on the fellowship, the Emir noted that the thematic areas of CELF, which include personal development, entrepreneurship, community development, and environmental sustainability are all important to the developmental process of a community, noting that there is a need to raise environmentally-conscious future leaders who will be advocates for safer and greener environment in their immediate communities. 

According to the first-class Royal Father in Edu Local Government Area of the State: “the role of traditional rulers in making the fellowship sustainably relevant cannot be overemphasised. As community leaders, it is highly desirable that people at the grassroots are exposed to the innovative ideas for them to be emancipated from ignorance, unemployment and social vices. It is, therefore, important that traditional institutions should rally round this programme. 

“On behalf of the good people of Songa Emirate, we are keen on working together with nongovernmental organisations such as HICA and other educationally-focused bodies that are desirous of finding lasting solutions to developmental issues in the grassroots.”

The Monarch charged the fellows to be good ambassadors of their communities and he also encouraged them to acquire innovative skills, adding that communities are in need of young and enterprising people. 

He, therefore, commended the Chief Volunteer of CELF, Mallam Lawal Olalekan Olohungbebe and his crop of volunteers for their “unquantifiable determination and sacrifice towards making CELF 3.0 a reality.”