INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY PATRICK IKLHEOLA AT HIS INVESTITURE AS DISTRICT GOVERNOR OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT 9110, NIGERIA
“The theme of this Rotary year is: ‘Be a gift to the world.’ We are going to dedicate ourselves more to services this year. We will make ourselves a gift to humanity to rescue the poor. We will give good water to those that are lacking; we will provide medical assistance to those in need of this. We will carry out projects in the six areas of focus.PATRICK IKLHEOLA, in his acceptance speech, said the District would maintain the position of first class at every level.
“The theme of this Rotary year is: ‘Be a gift to the world.’ We are going to dedicate ourselves more to services this year. We will make ourselves a gift to humanity to rescue the poor. We will give good water to those that are lacking; we will provide medical assistance to those in need of this. We will carry out projects in the six areas of focus. Maternal and child health is our concern. We will also look into the area of economic and community development. Basic education and literacy would be one of our focuses. We will execute those projects that are the heartbeat of Rotary International.
“My predecessor did a lot, and we are hoping to build on that and do more. Rotary believes in continuity. My predecessor has played his role and did well. This Rotary year we are going to look at three basic things, which include membership development and increase the number of clubs. We would also contribute to the Rotary Foundation, which is the heartbeat of Rotary International.
“Since last year, July 24, there had not been any outbreak of polio and by July 24, 2015, we would be having a year free of polio in Nigeria and if the trend is sustained in the next two years, Nigeria will be declared totally free from the endemic disease. Unfortunately Nigeria is one of the three countries we are still having polio, but we are going to see that the disease is stamped out of Nigeria,” he said.
In his welcome address, the Chairman, Installation Committee, Past Assistant Governor, Wale Adegbite, said the first object of the installation ceremony was to raise N30 million for execution of various projects for the Rotary year as well as increase the membership strength.