• Group mentors young girls, shares gifts to female students in Lagos

By Kehinde Aderemi 

The group, Ladies In Comradium (LIC) recently brought glad tidings to several young girld in Lagos. The LIC, a group of women of different professional backgrounds and members of Kegites Club, visited no fewer than six schools across Lagos State.

The visit was in commemoration of the 2025 edition of the International Day of the Girl Child, which held on Saturday, October 11.

The Ladies In Comradium gave sanitary pads, exercise books and other writing materials to over 500 female students from junior and secondary schools in all the six secondary schools visited in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State.

Speaking after distributing the items, President and founder of LIC, Grand Matron Arigbede Idowu, said the LIC was founded five years ago as the women wing of the Kegites Club. She said the reason for the visit was to educate the girls on the future that lies ahead of them as well as guide them against peer pressure.

Arigbede explained also that she decided to establish LIC as part of her vision to give back to the society and also build young girls to become women of integrity and reverence in the society. 

She identified how proper learning and mentorship could impact the lives of the girl-child, maintaining that good parenting was a big responsibility that must be done with seriousness.

The LIC president expressed regret that there had been a huge lacuna in the way the girls of the new generation were being trained.

She assured that the LIC would continue to provide the support needed to groom the girl-child for them to contribute meaningfully to the society.

“The vision is to give back to the society. What we are doing with this visit is to talk to our girl children, be their mentors and encourage them to be good ambassadors of the society.

“When we were in school, we didn’t get this opportunity from people that are older than us and people that we could look up to as our mothers.

“But now, we are trying to do it through LIC. We talk to them and encourage them to be better than us in life. And as the world celebrates the International Day of the Girl Child, we believe it’s time for us to talk to them about morals, what it is expected of them and how they should behave as they grow, as well as the step they needed to take about their future,” she stated.

She explained that the gifts that were distributed freely to the girls were donations from individuals and contributions from people that shared in the vision of the LIC.

Arigbede noted that the women were able to achieve the feat through hard work and dedication to the vision of the group. She assured that the little they were able to give the students would be of great impact in their lives.

“Our visit would continue to inspire them. As a proprietress of a school, I know the students would be willing to be like us in their later years,” she said.

 She tasked the students to focus on their education for them to be worthy ambassadors of womanhood.

Principal, Muslim Senior College, Oworonshoki Lagos, Mr Onabajo Adeleke Olusegun, also expressed delight at the gesture displayed by the LIC. 

He said he was impressed that such gesture came from mothers, who, by nature had the greatest bond with the female child.

Onabajo explained further that the women wing of Kegites had made tremendous impact in the lives of the students, positively influencing their academic careers and future progress.

“I am impressed by their generosity. Initially, I thought it was only sanitary pads that they were giving the female students, but when I found out that they added exercise books and other writing materials to the items donated, I was happy that LIC was here to make a lasting impact in the lives of the students.

“You can see the excitement on the faces of the students because these gifts came as a surprise to all of them. I learned our school was the third school they had visited today and that they are also going to other schools.

“I pray God to bless and replenish their purses for them to continue to be role models to the female students in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole,” he said.

Treasurer of the club, Margaret Nnneka, in her remarks, advised the female students to look beyond the gifts and focus on their education. She stated that the students can only succeed in life if they focus on their education.

“We are here to advise the female child that as we celebrate the International Day of the Girl-Child, they should focus more on their education. Education is life. It is the only legacy that can endure for the rest of their lives.

“We want our girls’ voices to be heard. We want them to be good ambassadors of womanhood. Education is not only about the four walls of the classroom; it is about knowing what to do at the right time in their lives. We are here to tell them that education is the key.

“We are here to tell them that everything that is good in life is also good for them. We are here to mentor them about their future as girl children and to tell them on how best they can cope with peer-group pressures,” she stated.

Some of the schools the LIC visited are Ifako Comprehensive Senior High School, Ifako, Muslim Senior College, Oworonshoki, Eva Adelaja Girls Junior and Senior Secondary School, Bariga, Gbagada Girls Junior Secondary School and Tombey School, Ketu.

A senior secondary school SS3 student from Muslim Senior College that spoke on behalf of her colleagues, Precious Nwaiwu, expressed appreciation to the LIC team. 

She said the visit of the LIC team was a big opportunity for them to learn and know more about the best way to get the best out of the world.

Nwaiwu urged her colleagues to learn from the visit by believing that there’s a future ahead of them that guarantees the best life that they deserve to live.

“I want to appreciate all our mummies from the Ladies In Comradium club for the love, for the gifts and most importantly for the words of advice they give to us.

“Their good gestures have inspired us greatly and we hope it will help us in our future endeavours,” she said.

Other members of the LIC that participated in this year’s visit to Lagos schools include Mrs Yusuf Temitope Simbiat, Awobajo Margaret, Oluyinka Taiwo, Adun Obanishola, Funmi Aderinlewo, Kike Adesanya, Ashabi, Lydia Makinde and Oyebola Adamson, among others.