The GOOD BOYS & GIRLS From The “Eko Inspire Me” By Ara Visits Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Who Again Promised To Make Sacrifices For Them.

Ara with President Obasanjo with his wife & others.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday, the 16^th of November, hosted members of the “Eko Inspire Me Academy” championed by Africa’s number one and first female talking drummer, Ara Olamuyiwa, popularly called, Ara, who lead her crew and about 25 of those she refers to as Good Boys and Good Girls, that is, some of the area boys and girls who are under the platform to pay an official courtesy visit to the former president.

According to the former president, who used the opportunity to share his life’s experiences with the young ones said, “I was at a time, a prisoner and had faced many challenges in life before getting to the top”, urged them to rediscover themselves using himself as an example, especially with all he had achieved in life.

Furthermore, President Obasanjo said there was the need for the rehabilitation of street children who are now called good boys and good girls by Ara, stressing that before the rehabilitation is done, they must first have an open mind to see things differently and rediscover themselves, saying that “God has not created them as street boys and street girls, that the first thing to do is to realize this, secondly, as you have heard from them, they also know where something snapped in their lives and what went wrong. So the process of rediscovering themselves will start with first, themselves.”

The initiator, Ara was motivated by her experience with these boys in the Oshodi area of Lagos about 10 years, after which she had a resolve to do something for them, other than give them money like others do and move on, but to build an institution that would not only rehabilitate them, but set them up in their various carriers of choice, which would range from fashion designing, modeling, education pursuit, and various entrepreneurial activities that would help pull them off the streets completely.

“Eko Inspire Me with Ara” was launched on the 19^th of October, 2022 and has the support of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, who through his office, has given the platform institutional support required for the actualization of their project who is dear to the heart of Ara.

Speaking after the meeting with President Obasanjo, the very elated Ara says, “Some of these good boys and girls have gone very far from what we all see with our bare eyes, but since we started working with them, their mindsets are gradually changing and I can assure you that we are raising young men and women should would start making us proud soon, I can assure you, as we hope to be able to take them off the streets completely.

Expressing their appreciation for meeting president Olusegun Obasanjo live, one of them said, “To me it’s a shock because I didn’t expect that in my life I will set my eyes on the former President, Obasanjo, it was a shock. In fact, taking pictures with him is a miracle.”

“All these rugged attitudes, atrocious attitudes will be stoked by God’s grace because with what I have seen here today, I am praying to God to answer my prayers so that I will see a helper.