NAN-H-18
NAN
Omu-Aran (Kwara), March 3, 2017 (NAN) An NGO, S.O.K Foundation has commended the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for its contributions toward the socio-economic development of the country, especially at the grassroots.
The Director of the Foundation, Mr Matanmi Sunday, made the remark during an Inter-Schools’ Mathematics and English Competition, organised for students in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area in Kwara on Friday.
NAN reports that the Omu-Aran-based Foundation was established in 2003 to promote the education of youths within the Kwara South Senatorial District.
No fewer than 250 Junior and Senior Secondary School students drawn from 30 schools participated in the annual programme geared toward making the study of the two core subjects attractive and competitive.
Sunday who spoke on “The Role of the Media in the Nation’s Educational Development’’, said that NAN efforts in projecting government activities at the rural and urban centres could not be over emphasised.
He said that NAN had by its aggressive reportage of activities at the grassroots, assisted a lot to attract investment opportunities to Omu-Aran.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that NAN coverage of activities within the grassroots has done a lot to promote socio-economic development in the areas of education, health, culture and human capital development.
“For a better and rewarding academic exercise to thrive, stakeholders must be well informed and that is exactly the role being piloted by NAN in this circumstance,” he said.
Sunday said that NAN efforts had also helped to reduce to the barest minimum the rural-urban migration challenge which militated against grassroots transformation and development.
He said that the competition, since its inception about 15 years ago, had produced winners who had excelled in their various chosen academic fields.
Sunday also said that the Foundation, through in-depth research, discovered that most students had developed a kind of phobia for the study of the two important subjects.
The Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Charles Ibitoye, in a goodwill message, lauded the organisers of the competition for their foresight.
He said the competition was a veritable platform for promoting interaction among students from different schools.
The monarch also commended the Management of NAN for according the people at the grassroots the deserved media recognition in their efforts toward achieving a sustainable socio-economic development.
“The people of this community will forever be grateful to the Management of NAN for its support toward ensuring the reopening of one of the closed commercial bank branches through adequate publication of our communal efforts,’’ he said
Comrade Kazeem Adekanye, the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) Chairman of Irepodun Local Government Area, urged the students to take advantage of the programme to enhance their academic performance. (NAN)
ISHO/ENN/AJA
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Adeleye Ajayi)