One year after six people lost their lives in a boat mishap while on an assignment to monitor the last Presidential and National Assembly elections in the riverine areas of Lagos State; the people of Epe in Epe Local Government Area of the state have concluded plans to immortalise the victims.
The community resolved to immortalise the victims through a foundation tagged AMBSAM Memorial Foundation which will be formally launched on March 28, 2016. The foundation’s name was taken from the last name of the victims.
The victims, Prince Olakunle Adewale, Mr. Muiz Bello, Mr. Wale Mogaji, Mr. Agoro Samson, Mr. Mogaji Gbolahan and Mr. Tunde Salawu died on March 28, 2015 in a boat mishap, an incident which brought incurable grief on the people of Epe.
Briefing journalists in Lagos yesterday, a member of the Board of Trustee of AMBSAM, Tunde Abass, who spoke on behalf of other members of the foundation said the primary aim of the foundation is to immortalize the victims and to cater for the upkeeps of their immediate dependants.
He said; “The foundation will be used as a spring board to alleviate the sufferings of those other less privileged and vulnerable youths in Epe division and beyond. A committee has been set up to collate the statistics and present it to the Board of Trustees for consideration.”
He said to drive the initiative, an operational framework has been set in motion, adding that the foundation had set up a fund mobilisation committee, saddled with the responsibility of mobilising the required funding from public spirited individuals.
Speaking further on funding, Abass said: “The foundation shall be run on financial donation and grants from government at all levels, philanthropists, public spirited individuals, non-governmental organizations.
“The success story is that in the last few months, the response had been very encouraging and the start up was made possible because of financial support received from members.”
As stated by Abass, beyond the launching of the foundation, AMBSAM has mapped out strategies and programmes to sustain the long term goals of the foundation, saying the programmes such as social awareness, learning and education as well as economic empowerment would be pursued vigorously.
“There is a plan to have a memorial park with a state of the art swimming pool accessible to members of the community whereby they can learn how to swim. This memorial park will be in the name of the fallen heroes,” Abass stated.
Guardian