About 500,000 persons have so far benefited from free medical outreach, secondary school educational and social welfare supports by Steno Memorial foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The Founder/Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Olufemi Sanni, who revealed this while speaking with journalists in Ibadan said residents of Ogun, Oyo and other states benefited immensely from the gesture.
On the rationale behind the gesture, Sanni, a medical doctor said the SMF foundation was founded to assist the less privileged in society, most of whom are women, indigent students, out-of-school youths and the aged.
On the Foundation, he disclosed that since its inception in 2011, has provided a wide range of medical services including free surgical evaluations and surgeries, eye screening and cataracts surgeries, community level medical screenings and consumables, and psychosocial support by bursaries, scholarships, and social support funds for the aged and widows.
The Founder when speaking on its educational impact; revealed that it has provided full tertiary scholarships till university completion to over 12 indigent students, impacting their families, and lifting them out of the burden of sending their wards to the university.
According to him, “Our focus is health, education and youth development. We have organised medical outreaches, we have organised free surgical services for people and we have given scholarship to students in higher institutions because we believed that education is the bedrock for development of any nation.
“The 23rd of March 2022 will go down in the annals of our history at Steno Memorial Foundation as another successful outing in our annual state wide quiz competition finals.
“We give glory to God and thank immensely all those that dedicated time and resources into making it such a resounding success.
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“On a larger scale, in conjunction with the Ministry of Science Education, the foundation has impacted the secondary school level education in Ogun state with the annual SMF secondary school quiz competition, which it has run since 2014. The competitive nature of the quiz had been able to showcase the best of brilliance of Ogun state students and the tenacity of Ogun State teachers.
“This year on the 23rd of March was no different with Remo secondary school taking the lead in the quiz competition finals. The event was well attended to the delight of the students who put up a good showing in the highly competitive event that saw the all the students proving their prowess, Remo Secondary school taking the lead.”
Sanni closed the ceremony with thanks to all who gave support for this year and over the years saying “ I thank the Chairperson, LOC, SMF Quiz Competition,Olukemi Abosede Olusanya, Chief Coordinator Examinations/Quiz competition and Mentorship program, Afolashade Sosanwo-Adedeji and Secretary of LOC Quiz competition, Wale Adenaya and all our coordinators and volunteers in all the local government areas.
“Also our supportive friends and family that have supported our cause over the years. I also thank the Ogun state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for giving approval to organise the competition yearly since 2014,” he said.
He promised that the Foundation would keep striving to impact lives through its commitments to education, health and social lives in line with the Foundation’s mission.
Taofik Lawal, a lawyer and secretary of the Foundation, spoke on the commitment of the Foundation to raise the bar in the educational standards across Ogun State and across Nigeria as a whole, while he presented the scholarship to the winning team.
