By Taiwo Adelu.
The Rotary club of Lagos Mainland has awarded former player of Nigeria’s Green Eagles and founder of the Greater Tomorrow Children’s Foundation (GTCF) Paul Okoku with the Rotary Humanitarian Merit Service award.
At a colouful and well-attended event held at the Golf View Hotel and Suites, Ikeja, the President of the Rotary Club of Lagos Mainland, Rotarian Paul Tosin Apebo, said Okoku, a former Green Eagles, Flying Eagles, WAFU Cup and Tessema Cup star, was honoured with the award because of his sterling and exemplary contributions to the society, through his pet project and charity organisation, the Greater Tomorrow Children’s Foundation.
Speaking during the club’s Installation and Investiture ceremony, Apebo said at a time when well-placed individuals in the society were shying away from helping the less privileged ones that it was comforting to find someone like Okoku championing the move to bridge the bridge the gap between the privileged and the less privileged, through feeding sessions and donation of gift items during the World Hunger Day and Children’s Day, which the GTCF has been marking annually in the last three years in Nigeria.
“There is no doubt that Paul Okoku merits the Rotary Humanitarian Merit Serve award because of his service to the Nigerian community. We are proud to have someone like him in our society and we will always be ready to identify with any of his projects in the future”, said Apebo.
Responding after collecting the award, Okoku, who was represented by ace Nollywood actor, Jide Alabi, said he was humbled with the gesture and promised to remain of serve to the country.
“I am deeply humbled with this award. I was not expecting it. All I am concerned about is to ensure that the needs of the less privileged children in our society are met and that is what GTCF sets out to do and will continue to do as we seek to cut the big divide that exists between the rich and the poor in our nation”, said Okoku.
He added that “I wish to express my deep appreciation to all our members, volunteers and youth ambassadors who are working tirelessly behind and on the scene to ensure the success of our humanitarian efforts. And of course, I would like to thank the kind-hearted financial donors, who continue to support GTCF financially and in kind to help the under-served children in our society. Individuals willing to support GTCF can visit our website @www.greatertomorrochildrensfund.org.”
Other awardees at the event include Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, who was awarded the Rotary Award of Excellence and Gbolahan Toriola, who bagged a Rotary Appreciation Award.
Taiwo Adelu (Twitter: @taiwo007); Facebook: Taiwo Adelu; taiwosamson2002@yahoo.com