Not fewer than 1000 children on Friday were beneficiaries of a feeding exercise organised by a Not For Profit organisation known as the Stephen Akintayo Consulting (SAC) in Dustbin Estate, a suburb of Ajegunje in Ajeromi Local Government Area of Lagos State.
The children were served freshly cooked food provided by the organisation, while the poorest among them received some form of scholarships to see them through school.
The event took place at Canal Street of Dustbin Estate, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Lagos State, where people live, eat and defecate on heaps of refuse and a permanent putrid smell from a swampy canal.
The Founder, SAC, Mr Stephen Akintayo, told Tribune Online that he was horrified when he heard about the community and decided to mark his birthday by visiting the Ajegunle slum with food.
ALSO READ: Buhari will not share public funds to friends, family — Osinbajo
“When somebody told me about this place I was moved to tears,” Mr Stephen Akintayo told Saturday Tribune. “When I came I saw people living on dustbin.
“They call it Dustbin Estate as a nickname simply because of its surrounding. You can see the children, malnourished children defecating on the pile of rubbish, while some eating out of it.
“This is why every year we try to do something for them, giving scholarship for some of the kids and feeding most of them.”
“This particular event is put together for my birthday. So, today we are here at the Dustbin Estate to feed one thousand kids, then next Sunday will be at the Gbagada General Hospital and then on Saturday will be at Abeokuta (Gideon Orphanage home) then on my birthday January 28 will be in Kirikiri prison.”
Calling on well-meaning Nigerians support the community and the less privileged, Akintayo stressed that the one-day feeding exercise is a drop in the ocean of needs facing this community as well as other shanties around it.
and then