Wife of the governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, has charged girls in Lagos State and the country, to live moral lives, have confidence in themselves and adopt the winning attitude.

She gave the charge at the Queens College, Sabo, Yaba, venue of the Mentoring the Girl-child Initiative 2016, organized by the Iyalode of Lagos, Chief Mrs. Bintu Fatima Tinubu.

Wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Bolanle Ambode (middle); Convener, Iyalode Mentoring Girl-Child Initiative, Chief (Mrs.) Bintu-Fatima Tinubu (left); and Wife of Minister of Solid Minerals, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, during the 4^th edition of Iyalode Mentoring Girl-Child initiative Programme, at Queens College, Yaba,  today.

Bolanle noted that the society had thrown too many challenges in the way of the girls, which consequently weigh them down, make them lose their confidence, sense of security and turn out largely unfulfilled.

According to her, ‘We live in very challenging times that have made our girls to be wrongly exposed. Some of those challenges include assault, child labour, open discrimination, rape, and domestic violence among others. These challenges have clearly taken a toll on them, by seriously eroding their sense of security and self confidence, making them fall short of expectations’.

She advised them to build their self confidence and move with the assurance that they are capable of winning at all times, in tune with the theme of the programme: ‘Building the Winning Attitude in Every Girl-child’.

‘The winning attitude is about believing in yourself,your ability and potential for success.It is about adopting the ‘Ican’ attitude that leaves you with the confidence that you too can do it’, she stressed.

Speaking further, she urged the girls to engage only in things that would add value to them as whatever they did now, would form the foundation of their future adult life.

Wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Bolanle Ambode (2^nd right); Convener, Iyalode Mentoring Girl-Child Initiative, Chief (Mrs.) Bintu-Fatima Tinubu (3^rd right); Vice Chair of Famfa Oil, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija (3^rd left); Principal Queens College, Dr. (Mrs) Lami Amodu (2^nd left); Wife of Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Ibiyemi Tunji-Bello (left); and Wife of Minister of Solid Minerals, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, during the 4^th edition of Iyalode Mentoring Girl-Child initiative Programme, at Queens College, Yaba,  today.

In her welcome address, the convener of the programme and Iyalode of Lagos, Chief Mrs. Bintu-Fatima Tinubu, regretted the serious decline in moral values among the girls, noting that only girl-child education and good social re-orientation, would rescue the society.

In her 12- point lecture, the guest lecturer, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, strongly advocated for girl-child education, stressing that parents should accord equal prominence to girl education as they often do for the boys.

She charged the girls to build the winning attitude by remaining focused, believing in their own abilities, cultivating reading habit, keeping good company and using the social media responsibly, warning that just one costly mistake could derail a girl’s life.

Other prominent dignitaries at the event which was the fourth in the series were: Chief Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, who was chairman; Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu, former deputy governor of Lagos State; Chief Kemi Nelson; Prof Ibiyemi Tunji-Bello and Hon. Funmilayo Tejuosho among others.