Lions Club International has said that well over one billion dollars have been spent on humanitarian services to more than 300 million people in the world in the past 100 years.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin as part of its four-day activities to mark centennial celebration of the nongovernmental organization in the world, the multiple district council chairperson, (country president) of Lions Club International, Lion Kola Oyekanmi, said that the group was yet to fully explore its potentials in meeting humanitarian services.
Lion Oyekanmi, who said that Africa got the largest share of the club’s finances due to development needs of the people, added that there were many needs yet to be met due to financial constraints.
The club is a nongovernmental, nonpolitical association. When we call for more membership, we are hampered with willingness of people to join. It is our willingness to serve and share part of our resources that differentiate us Lions from other people in the society. There are so many needs out there that our resources cannot satisfy. We have members with potential to serve but financial resources to serve is also limited. We call on more Nigerians to exhibit willingness to be part of the association to serve the people”, he said.
He also said that the club planned to spend an average sum of 15 million dollars every year for the next 100 years globally, adding that focus would be in such places as Asian, Africa and for such projects as diabetes, infrastructural provisions in education, health, environment, youth exchange, as well as providing disaster relief, saving sight and meeting humanitarian needs among other projects.
The Lion Club’s country president, who said that the club is the largest service club organization in the world with its 1.42 million members in more than 46,000 clubs, added that the clubs were serving communities in 209 countries around the world.
He said the club, which birthed in Nigeria in 1964, presently has over 6,000 members in 261 clubs in the country, enjoined Nigerians to join the humanitarian club to contribute to national development and growth.
To celebrate the 100 years of the association, he said that several service activities were embarked upon since 2014, adding that such projects include, “engaging our youth, sharing the vision, relieving the hunger and protecting the environment.
“It is noteworthy that all the efforts have helped Lions worldwide to surpass the initial target of serving 100 million people worldwide as we have served well over 149 million people as at today and still counting”, he said.
He served Nigeria in that capacity from 1995 till he retired from service in 2006.
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