In fulfillment of its objectives of bringing succour to people in its operating environments, the Rotary Club of Lagos has announced plans to raise its annual micro-credit interest-free loans from N10 million to N15 million in the 2022/2023 Rotary calendar.

Disclosing this in Lagos at his induction and installation as the 62nd president of the club, Rotarian Joseph Akhigbe described the decision as one of his administration’s plans at ensuring that more market women and female entrepreneurs were accommodated in the loan scheme.

He also identified the education sector as one of the areas his administration intends to focus, adding that the club would soon commence the building and equipping of a standard school in Ilara community in Epe, in tune with the four strategic points of the Rotary Club International’s board this year.

While thanking the monarch of Ilara community for donating one acre of land for the venture, the new president stated that the club had also secured the commitment of a corporate organization to bear the construction cost of the school.

He, however, appealed to other corporate organizations to partner with the club to procure furniture and equipment for the planned community school.

In continuation of Rotary Club of Lagos’ fight against cervical cancer, Akhigbe stated that the club would be vaccinating at least 200 young women and girls in the new Rotary year, while it had also concluded discussions with a partner in the United States to get a 40-feet container load of wheelchairs, walkers and crutches, for the physically-disadvantaged in the society.

While expressing the readiness of the club to collaborate with other weaker clubs to jointly accomplish big projects, the new president added that the club would also contribute greatly to the Rotary Foundation as the lead club in its category.

“It is the vision of our District Governor, Ayaba Omotunde Lawson, that clubs should collaborate in clusters in order for the stronger clubs to help the weaker clubs to grow and jointly accomplish bigger projects.

“We are the lead club in cluster 1 with three other clubs and we shall collaborate with them to execute some joint projects. It is our plan to contribute greatly to the Rotary Foundation in this Rotary year because the Rotary foundation is where you have the pool of funds that service Rotary activities all over the world,” he added.

The new Rotary Club of Lagos’ president also expressed his adminstration’s desire to deepen the existing collaboration with other international clubs and develop new ones, while describing the existing collaboration as highly impactful.

The new administration, he added, intends to increase its membership base from 128 to at least 150 members by the end of the Rotary year, in tune with its new membership slogan of RAAM, which is to “Retain All, Add More”.

Also speaking at the event, the immediate past president, Rotarian Wale Agbeyangi, expressed his delight at the successes the club had recorded in the past one year under his watch.

According to him, Rotary Club of Lagos had in the last one year been able to consolidate its standard as a high-achieving club, not only in District 9110, but among Rotary Clubs in the continent.

While expressing his gratitude to the “highly dedicated Board and Committee Chairs, and their respective teams”, for the excellent work accomplished in the outgone Rotary year, Agbeyangi noted that the club had in the past one year been able to carry out some life-changing projects that still continue to resonate with people in its operating environments.

One of such achievements, he stated, was the successful raising of the sum of N86.97 million, as of May 22, 2022.

The money, sourced from corporate organisations, Rotarians and other friends of Rotary, he stated, had helped the club to finance its projects in the outgone year.

“In the 2021-2022 Rotary year, our Club was very active in implementing various initiatives to help improve the quality of life of people in our communities.

“In line with the Rotary theme for the year ‘Serve to Change Lives’, we raised funds to facilitate the execution of several impactful projects; we were very vibrant in our membership drive and in improving Rotary knowledge among members; and many of these activities received good publicity which projected our Club’s strides.

“As of May 22, 2022, we had raised N86.97 million which helped finance our projects. These are donations from corporate organisations, Rotarians, and other friends of Rotary,” he added.

In his Keynote address at the event, the Guest Speaker, Mr. Wole Oshin, commended the club for truly living up to its mission of making the society better through its different initiatives, noting that the humanitarian services of the club could never be dismissed because of their resultant impacts on lives and communities. .

The Group Managing Director of Custodian Investment Plc argued that the society would have been a better place, if the basics of the Rotarian four-way test were applied in the governance structure of the country.

“We will have leaders in every sphere of society who are honest, dedicated and have the common good of the people at heart.

“The Rotary Organization has addressed and continues to address the huge challenges we have in health, education, security, infrastructure and so on but the question I ask in concluding is: How can we institutionalize the process by Rotarianizing the Nigerian population with the values with which this great institution has stood for over the last 117 years?” he asked.