The Roses Ministry 2013 Youth Seminar for Senior Secondary Schools took place on the 23^rd of October at the main hall of the National Population Commission Census Surulere, Lagos. The theme is “THE CHALLENGES OF GROWING UP” (PART 4) and the topic is “PRESENT HEALTH AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES THAT PREPARE YOUTHS FOR THE FUTURE”. This year’s Seminar was really a “RED LETTER DAY” as eighteen (18) schools with a total number of 540 students attended compared to 400 students from thirteen Schools of 2012. The schools include the following:

• Rainbow College Surulere
• Queens’ College Yaba
• Select International School Surulere
• Somerset College Surulere
• Federal Technical College, Yaba
• New Era Girls’ Secondary School
• Bedrock College Surulere
• Aquinas Private School Surulere
• Brown Memorial School Surulere
• Topgrade School Surulere
• Gloryland School Surulere
• Fountain Secondary School Surulere
• New Estate Baptist School Surulere
• Febilak School Surulere
• Barths School Surulere
• International School, Lagos
• Regan College

Precious and the Nightingales started around 9:45am to thrill the students with music for the youths and by 10:20am, Mrs Chineze Ajoku, head Youth Department, introduced the Roses co-ordinator, Mrs Regina Ezenwa and called on Mrs Nwadi Ejiofor for opening prayers and praise / worship session.

By 10:35am, Mrs. Ezenwa read her welcome address. She started by reminding the students the vision of Roses Ministry i.e. showing God’s love to the hurting and vulnerable in practical ways. She emphasized that the Roses mission to the Youths is to raise a generation of Youths that are morally upright and God-fearing through seminars, Counseling, education of one child per widow, vocational training. She reviewed the 2012 Youth program held on the 25^th of October at the same venue that 13 Secondary schools with some of their teachers attended, the theme “The challenges of growing up (part 3) and the topic: Drugs, Alcohol, Dating and Peer Pressure”, the book, Gifted hands by Dr Ben Carson were given to all the schools two months before the program to prepare for quizzes on the book; in addition to English, Mathematics and sciences. She did not fail to mention how Dr Banky Sadipe did justice to the topic mentioned above. According to Mrs. Ezenwa, three schools were given trophies due to their outstanding performances and gifts were distributed to all the Youths in attendance, also, food, snacks, and drinks were given. She showed her gratitude to all the companies that donated items like: Seven-Up, Rozec Pharmacy, May & Baker, GSK, Indomie Noodles, and also individuals with cash and gifts. She glorified God as about 400 students attended. She welcomed the students to the part 4 of challenges of growing up and the topic: Present Health and Socio-Economic Challenges that prepare Youths for the future. She also introduced the judges for the quiz: Lady Ann Okechukwu, Mrs Helen Obviagele, Pharm Ernest Okafor, Engr Obi Anadu, Mrs Loretta Onyima, Engr Obidi Ezenwa and also the guest speaker, Prof. Cecilia Igwilo, OON.

Between 10:50 – 11:25am, students were allowed to showcase their talents while snacks and Milo drinks were served to everyone present.

Presentation of the topic: Present Health and Socio-Economic Challenges that prepare Youths for the future was done by the guest speaker, Prof Cecilia Igwilo between 11:25am – 12:05pm. Prof. Igwilo emphasized that although there are incredible improvements in Health, there are a number of challenges that still need attention. Some of these statistics are listed as follows:

• One billion people lack access to health care systems
• 36million deaths each year are caused by non-communicable diseases – Cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc
• Over 7.5million children under the age of 5 die from malnutrition and mostly preventable diseases each year.
• AIDS/HIV has spread rapidly as UNAIDS estimated roughly 33.4million people living with HIV in 2008, 2.7 million with new infections and 2 million deaths from AIDS.
• Tuberculosis kills 1.7million people each year with 9.4million new cases a year
• 6million people still die from Pneumococcal diseases every year, making it a number one vaccine-preventable cause of death worldwide.
• Malaria causes some 225million acute illnesses and over 780,000 deaths annually.
• 164,000 people, mostly children under five died from measles in 2008 even though effective immunization costs less than 1 US Dollars and has been available for more than 40 years.

Although the statistics above make for grim reading, Prof. Igwilo noted that the socio-economic implications of these challenges and important underlying cause of all these deaths is poverty. The World Health Organization and others repeatedly pointed out that many of these diseases are diseases of poverty. She explained that malaria has a measurable direct and indirect cost and has recently been shown to be a major constraint to economic development. Malaria also hampers children’s schooling and social development through both absenteeism and permanent neurological and other damage associated with severe episodes of the disease. The simple presence of malaria in a community or country also hampers individual and national prosperity due to its influence on social and economic decisions. The risk of contracting malaria in endemic areas can deter investment both internal and external and can affect individual and household decision-making. Prof Igwilo also noted that economic policies such as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) enforced by the IMF and World Bank for decades on poor countries have had a disastrous effect on health.

Preparing the students for the future, Prof Igwilo encouraged them that the vision of the future places greater demands on them especially students preparing for careers in medicine and nursing, that they will be expected to be as skilled in assessing their patients’ health in the context of the community and family as they understand the Biological basis of disease and therapeutic options. She concluded and answered the questions asked by the students.

The quiz session started around 12:10noon, consisting of about 83 questions from the book “Facing the Giants”. Two books were given to each school in advance to read and prepare along with Mathematics, English and general knowledge. The questions were asked by the co-ordinator herself while the judges did the rating. By 1pm, while the Judges were getting ready the marks, the students were served with food and drinks for their lunch.

By 1:30pm, Apostle Alex Bamgbola, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Chairman of the occasion prayed for all the students for fear of God, Godly wisdom, God’s leading in life and then handed the future of all of them in God’s Hands.

The result of the quiz was announced after the prayer session and the following schools were called:

Bedrock College          1^st

Aquinas College          2^nd

Rainbow College         3^rd

These schools were given trophies as well as other gifts as take home for their schools. Gifts were also distributed to all the students – Math – sets, water bottles, exercise books, biros, cups etc

The closing remark was given by the head of the Youth Department, Mrs Chineze Ajoku, she thanked all that attended and promised them that next year will be better than this year. She also gave the closing prayer and the Roses Ministry Anthem led by Mrs Nwadi Ejiofor was sung to the Glory of God which brought the program to an end.

We use this opportunity to appreciate our various sponsors who contributed to the success of this program, they include:

• Rozec Pharmacy – Trophies
• Seven-up Bottling Company – Pepsi, Mirinda, Teem
• Nestle Nigeria PLC – Milo drinks, water, exercise books, biros
• Individuals – Cash and cheque

May Almighty God bless your businesses in returnAMEN)

Compiled by
Mrs Tety Obianwu
Head, Administration