Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship (CELF) has introduced a new feature called Mentoring Series which will, according to the Chief Volunteer, Mr. Lawal Olalekan Olohungbebe is going to commence in the forthcoming third edition of the program.
Mr. Lawal discloses this development to Newsmen at the pre-Camp media briefing for the third edition of CELF at Ilorin earlier today.
In his address, He said the third edition is a build-up from the success of the first and second editions and as well an opportunity to unveil more features toward the achievements of the set goals and objectives of CELF.
Read the full text of the press brief below;
Being a text delivered by the Chief Volunteer of the Countryside Emerging Leaders Fellowship (CELF), Mr. Lawal Olalekan Olohungbebe at the CELF pre-camp media briefing held at the HICA Office, Suite 38, Kwara State Library Complex, Ilorin on Wednesday, 16th of November, 2022
Courtesies,
CELF volunteers here present, observers and gentlemen of the pen-pushing profession, I welcome you all to this auspicious briefing about, yet again, another edition of our impactful and far-reaching educational, mentoring, and capacity development program, the Countryside Emerging Leadership Fellowship (CELF).
As you may already know, the CELF program is now in its third edition, and I feel highly delighted to address you, our media partners, as part of our stakeholders’ dialogue for the 2022 edition of CELF. As we are already accustomed to in the last three years, it is a tradition for us to kickstart CELF with a media briefing of this nature to provide updates to our partners regarding the previous edition, as well as give a hint about the new features to expect in the current edition.
Before I proceed, I should first register my appreciation to the media community, especially those of you in the online spectrum for your unquantifiable contributions to the success of the 2021 edition of CELF (2.0). It was due to your commitment and support that the program has continued to receive wide publicity, both to the acclaim of our major stakeholders and sponsors, especially the Kwara State Government under the leadership of His Excellency, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq who stood as our major sponsor last year. We cannot thank His Excellency and his cabinet enough for their commitment to promoting functional education among Kwara youths, both in the rural and urban areas. I should emphasize that, through the support and backing of the Kwara State Government, sixteen (16) 2021 CELF fellows, mostly from rural areas, across all the sixteen local government areas of the state, have been awarded scholarships to study any course of their choice in any public institution in Nigeria. It is worthy noting also that some of the beneficiaries of the said award have gained admission into different higher institutions, while funds are now being released to the parents or guardians of the beneficiaries for the payment of tuition fees.
I should also use this avenue to sincerely express my appreciation to our donors and partners for making CELF 2.0 a huge success. Through your donations and prizes, CELF is gradually becoming a sustainable educational intervention in the country, one that has continued to up the scale and sustains its founding vision of serving as a platform of opportunity for struggling students who desire quality education.
That said, the year 2022 CELF camp, as customary with us, will open between December 1 and 14, 2022. Expectedly, 32 young students( sixteen males and sixteen females) have been carefully selected, following their brilliant performance in all the stages of exams and interviews conducted by the CELF team, with the support of the Kwara State Teaching Service Commission. Three students, who have the best results in WAEC or NECO from each of the thirty-two selected schools, participated in the paper-based tests and interviews. One winner was eventually picked from each of the schools. In all, the 16 local government areas are represented by a male and a female each. This implies that CELF fellows, like in the previous editions, are selected based on merits, as no individual, group or organization influenced our selection process.
In addition to the three thematic areas of CELF, namely personal development, entrepreneurship, and community development, a new theme— environmental sustainability— has been added to this year’s edition. This becomes important as the world is now focused on climate change adaptation and mitigation. Therefore, there is a need to raise environmentally-conscious future leaders who will be advocates for safer and greener environments in their immediate communities.
Another new feature of CELF 3.0 is the introduction of mentoring series. This is a life-changing interactive dialogue between an exemplary and high-achieving individual who is a leader of thought and the CELF fellows. The goal is to empower the youths with the right leadership skills and inbue them with the right kind of motivation to inspire and energize them towards greater accomplishments.
At this juncture, I want to appeal to individuals, corporate bodies, and governments to partner with CELF to enhance functional education, especially in our rural communities, and reduce unemployment, rural-urban migration, and the number of dropouts from our schools. As a Non-Governmental Organisation, we are keen on working together with developmental organizations, partners, and other educationally focused bodies that are desirous of promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It is our hope, and indeed prayers, that just like in the previous editions; you will give us the necessary support and accord CELF the same kind of priority you have always given us, despite the political season which, undoubtedly, would require most of your outlets to focus on campaign issues. We expect that you will not allow the CELF event to be swallowed up in the highly noisy market of politics and that you will accord us your attention and time to help drive home the CELF message as our valuable media partners.
As always, we look forward to a richly rewarding and productive partnership and collaboration with you all in this year's edition of CELF. We know we can always count on your support.
Thank you, and God bless.
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