Scouts are the bedrock of societal development and if a scout is educated, trained and empowered, the nation is built
By Julius Alabi, Akure
The Pro-President of Ondo State Scout Council, Olori Omo Oba Olusoga Sofolahan Atibioke has reiterated the roles of Scouting in building a viable Society describing the organization as the greatest asset the country has.
Olori Omo Oba Olusoga Sofolahan made the observation at the weekend at the 2021 Annual General Meeting organized by Ondo State Scout Council held at the Ondo State Library Board, Akure.
He noted that organizations that comprise young people provide a strong platform to promote unity and mental co-existence which are critical to the survival, growth and development of our nation.
“I believe strongly that the Scouts are the bedrock of societal development and if a scout is educated, trained and empowered, he or she is built; and if you build the Scouts, you build a nation,” he noted
Olori Omo Olusoga Sofolaha further stressed that the organization is set to develop curricula for all the aspects of Scouting Learning towards the development of the Youths as future Leaders of Nigeria in no too long distance to come
“Scouting started in 1907 with just 20 boys on the Brown Sea Island, and today, it has become the biggest single voluntary organization Worldwide with over 57 million members. The Vision of Scouting is to attain 100 Million
membership by 2023.
“However, in order to attain this number, as the Leader of Scouting in Ondo State, l am challenging the team towards setting a target of One Million Scouts in Ondo State within the next two years.
“And to achieving this goal, our focus would be to engage our youths from the cradle of being Eaglet Scouts to being Adult Scouts, by
educating them in the act of good citizenship, and Leadership programs.
“We plan to engage and align with the Ondo State House of Assembly to reenact The Scout Association of Nigeria Law into the Law of the Ondo State Government. This will abolish the old Western Nigeria Boy Scout Association of Nigeria Law that has been obsolete, and concentrated efforts alone on the Boys, without minding the Gender Sensitivity within our Society.
“Upon the enactment of this law, we shall partner with the State Executive body within the State through His Excellency, the Governor and his Deputy, to get them on board as the State Patron and State Deputy Patron of Scouts, and then interface with the Ministry of Education and Youth, to take Scouting back to Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Schools in Ondo State.
“Our Educational Method will focus on developing Good Citizenship and Leadership since Scouting is about Leadership, we would be ready to offer ourselves for service to Train Leadership in Public and Private Organizations. Other things that we are planning to embark upon, are programs on:
“Diversity and Inclusion, Social Impacts, training youths to be agents of positive changes within our communities without any discrimination to gender, colour or where you are from”, he said
Part of the Annual General Meeting was the Elections of the New Officers of the State Scouts Committee.
The Former State Scout Commissioner Prince Simple Mohammed Abdullahi gave a stewardship report of his tenure after which the Committee was dissolved and elections were conducted for the post of State Scout Treasurer and State Scout Commissioner.
Reverend Ajibola was re-elected as the State Scout Treasurer and Ambassador Taiwo Jeremiah Oladeji was elected as the New State Scout Commissioner for the Council for the next three years.
However, in attendance at the AGM was the representative of the Commissioners for Youths and Sports in Ondo State, Mr Kolawole Abiodun, and the representative of the National Youth Council Chairman, Ondo State Chapter, Comrade Fadile.
The program was attended by the representative of the District and Divisional Councils with over 67 members of the Ondo State Scout Council.
