The wife of the Governor, Barrister Obioma Imoke, who
represented the Governor at the tape cutting to declare the Calabar Children
carnival opened, said Dangote over the years has been consistent in giving back
to the society, empowering the youth and serving as a good and positive role
model to the youth.
“Aliko Dangote has been a good and positive role models
to our youth. He has shown enormous
interest in youth development and empowerment and we wish other notable
Nigerians can take a cue from him and use their organisations to support the
youth, who are obviously the leaders of the tomorrow.”President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote however assured of more strategic investments in the nation's economy with focus on youth development by partnering with state governments.
Dangote, represented by the General Manager, Corporate
Communications, Esan Sunday, gave the assurance during the flag off of the
Children carnival .
He said all hands should be on deck to develop the
children to become useful for themselves and the nation.
He said it was against this background that the Group
has been sponsoring the Children segment of the carnival. The group, according
to Dangote also runs an academy which is targetted at youth development
academically.
The colouful procession of children from age three to
16 numbering over 10, 000 started from the popular botanical garden through to
the Stadium. And witnessed by top government officials led by the wife of the
state governor, Obioma Imoke.
The Governor’s wife urged other organisations to
emulate the good gestures of Dangote Group and helped in the development of the
country.
Mrs Imoke told the children that the state government
is committed to policies and programmes that will assist the children and
youths realize their potentials. She urged the youths to see potentials and not
limitations in their aspirations to become the best in the future.
No fewer than 10 thousand children participated in the
carnival and the Dangote group as the sponsors provided branded shirts for all
of them and their bands.It also provided same for the officials in addition to
thousands of cartons of variety of its Dansa fruit drinks and water were made
available for the children and officials.
Visibly impressed by the gesture from the Group,
Mrs.Imoke described Dangote group as a worthy partner towards helping children
discover their talents and skills. According to her, the group in providing all
the refreshments for both the dry run and Children carnival proper has shown
its interest in the welfare of the Nigerian child.
Earlier, there was a dry run of the children carnival.
The dry run gave residents of Calabar a glimpse of what
the children carnival was to look like with hundreds of children clad in
Dangote-branded T-shirt parading the streets.
The carnival proper involved several groups of children
of different ages who paraded the four- kilometers distance from the Botanical
Garden located near the Mary Slessor roundabout through barracks road and
terminating at the Esuene Stadium.
Different bands that participated in the run include
Bayside band, Freedom band, Masta Blasta band, Seagull Band, Passion Four and
Army children band.
The children who were full of excitement paraded and
danced to the music being supplied from over a dozen of open vans and trucks
equipped with hi-fi sound systems and disc jockeys adorning Dangote Beach
umbrellas.
It was an exciting sight to see sea of children adorned
in various colors of Dangote-branded T-shirts. The children were grouped
according to age groups and further distinguished by the color of the T-shirts
Tags
Society