A group, Bread & Butter Initiative has taken its Corporate social responsibility (CSR) to a community for destitutes built by the Lagos state Government at Oko Baba.
Babajide Ogunsanwo, a data analyst and founder of The FactBox, as well as the founder of Bread & Butter initiative, a corporate social responsibility of The Factbox, stated that over the years of doing research and analysis of the challenges and opportunities in Nigeria, especially Lagos, a major challenge detected was that the less privilege number is on the high side, especially children.
Speaking about what led his organisation to institute their CSR project at the Okobaba facility for beggers, he said, “We discovered this facility two years ago, which has very young boys and girls, who shouldn’t be living in this condition.
“Based on this situation, we decided to firstly provide them with meals. We make provisions for over 300 children on last Saturday of the month, and this we have done consistently for the past 2 years.
“Curently, our plan is to provide them with meals from once a month to once a week till it becomes daily.
Ogunsanwo said the second challenge has to do with the name of the facility, which is even recognized on the map as the Beggars village or the Destitutes home. The challenge is that the name was given by the government and we don’t have the power to change it, rather we thought of a better nickname to reflect what is going on in this facility, thereby not contravening any law, he said.
The new nickname is the Home of Potentials, rather than a place of destitutes, we see people with great destinies, he stated.
We see people through the support of either the public or private sectors, reach their potentials and fulfill destinies. We see great destinies living here, and so the unveiling of the nickname, he said.
“We are hoping and praying that the government will embrace this nickname and adopt it as the official name of the facility, he stated.
He said an inspiring thing about this facility is that there is no day, that we come here and don’t see children smile despite the state of their living, that truly inspires us to do more.
“Above all, there are more children in this facility than adults, a lot of unlocked potentials, a lot of unfulfilled dreams. I see a lot of opportunities that needs to be tapped and children who should tell their stories. It’s truly an opportunity for grass to grace, he said.
He said that the government needs to see that vision in this facility. Yes the government can’t meet the needs of everyone in the society but a big step is to inspire. This we started from the entrance to inspire from the name.
“The children initially see the word destitutes, what they always hear before was beggars, our mission is to inspire them to see the word Home of potentials, as that will inspire them and allow them to challenge themselves to greater heights, he said.
As insignificant as this may seem, we see a great significance in this name change, he said.
The Secretary of the Community, Muhammad Baba, expressed his profound gratitude to the Bread & Butter Initiative of the Factbox for looking out for the children.
He stated that the children were the future and should not end up like their parents, so the need to go to school and become great people in the future.
He further appealed to well meaning Nigerians to support them as the government alone can not do it.
