Since its flag-off, the Lagos Boy Child Initiative has been intentional with its focus on the boy-child, discovering, training and equipping them with useful skills that help them to live responsible life, rather than drifting into crime.
This year, the initiative, a brainchild of Claudiana Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the First Lady of Lagos State, expanded from sport to a cooking competition, drawing participants from all five divisions of the state and students from public, private schools, orphanages and correctional facilities with the aim of encouraging them to learn cooking, develop interest and further it to become chefs in the future.
In this interview at Marriott Ikeja Hotel where prizes were given to the winners, the Lagos State First Lady shares with OBINNA EMELIKE, the rationale of the initiative, focus on culinary, shocking talent discoveries, why everyone should help the boy-child, partnership with Akwaaba on Jollof War competition, among others. Excerpts:
Congratulations on such a commendable initiative. How do you feel today?
I am so super excited that we are able to showcase our boys, and that our boys are educated, disciplined, and can have some skill sets now.
In the past, people were not very sure that our boys should have these skill sets and also do these things. Culture wise, it seems unobtainable, but now we are showcasing that the boys could actually do these things. They say what a man can do, a woman can do too, I think it is the other way around now with our boys learning cooking skills.
Why the support for the boy-child instead of the usual girl-child?
It is because a lot of emphasis has been on the girl-child, and we realised the need to balance it, and to make sure that the boy-child is equally responsible like the girl-child. So, the girls are going to meet the boys, they are going to get married to the boys, and they are going to work with boys, so it is important that we bring up our boys too. We are not able to do the whole of the boys in Nigeria, but the few that we can do are going to act as examples, mentors and counsellors to other boys in their various communities, and that is what we believe in.
Are the participants strictly boys from Lagos State?
No, all the boys we have involved are boys from the five divisions of Lagos State: Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos Island and Epe. They are spread all over, from the public, the private, the orphanages and correctional facilities.
Like I said, boys will always be boys and it is amazing the amount of talent and the intelligence quotient (IQ) of these boys. I have been able to interact with them and noticed that our boys are wonderful. All they need is to be informed properly, and when they are well informed, they do their best. That is the slogan.
Why culinary of all vocational training?
Cooking is just one of the talents we wanted to discover in them. We started with football and expanded to cooking. Maybe, the next step might be make-up training, ‘gele’ or something else, just to find out other areas that our boys can really compete in. We want to change the narrative that our boys are doing Yahoo Yahoo and all the bad things. For me, it is important that we invest a lot in our boys.
Lately, a lot has been going on in the country and I feel that if we pay more attention to our boys, there will be huge reduction in banditry, terrorism and the likes. Now that the government is paying attention, I think we should catch them young, as much as possible.
Not only should they be engaged in the social media aspect, but use their hands to do something valuable. They will end up being entrepreneurs and employers of labour. It is something I believe in, and that is why I am supporting the boy-child, though I am a senior girl-child.
How are you going to sustain the cooking training after now, especially for boys interested in becoming chefs?
We will encourage them because they were excited with what they have seen at Marriott Ikeja Hotel. What we have done is to fill their pulse and give them exposure.
Some of them didn’t even know that they had culinary skills at all. Like you heard some of them saying today that they have never cooked in their life, but we told them to come out for the competition. What I admire is their courage and boldness to even come and take part in the competition.
Imagine someone that has never cooked, even the expression on his face tells it all that this boy doesn’t cook at home. But they are doing wonderful cooking now and that is encouraging.
What kind of prizes are you giving to the winners?
We structured the project in a way that everyone becomes a winner and everyone gets something, one of which is bringing them here at Marriott Ikeja Hotel and exposing them to a fine dining experience.
For the top winners, we are also going to send them to a culinary hospitality school to learn more hospitality, culinary, food and hygiene.
They are still in secondary school, so education is very important. Whether you are going to become a chef or not, your basic education is very important. What we did is just to give them a taster. Now that they have had a taster, it might help them to develop interest or career in culinary.
As Mr. Ikechi Uko has said, some of them want to take part in the Jollof War competition at Akwaaba 2026 in September and meet other people in that field. We never know, they might become one of our best international chefs. Also, they might have a combination of whatever they have learnt on social media and culinary and come up with something different. I don’t know what it would be, but you will be amazed at what these young ones are going to produce at the end of the day.
What values do you think parents should teach their children to change their story?
Honestly, I think the parents are trying in this kind of dynamic world that we are in now. Some of these children don’t even live with their parents.
Some of them are living with guardians and some are just wards in some of these orphanages and public homes. So, it is not just only the parents, it is everybody. Everybody should show interest in helping the children to live responsibly. When you see a child, if you are in a position to help the child, I think you should, as much as possible, encourage them academically, and streetwise.
You should encourage them that if they are not good in their academics, say 100 percent, then they should be good with their hands. There is a lot that you can learn and that is what I believe in. We should encourage them. It should not be about whether this work is for a girl or this work is for a boy, learn something, get a skill and be empowered. All of us are involved because in today’s modern world, the man goes to work, the woman goes to work, and some of them work from home. Everybody is involved.
For us, the involvement is to create more awareness on the education of the boy-child, which is important and that is what we have done.
We also want to create awareness about lots of vulnerable children out there and the need for them to be rehabilitated. By this, we are drawing attention to the rehab aspect of the social development of the children, which is important.
There are a lot of people out there, and a lot of philanthropists, who sometimes want to do things. They go to the orphanages, but we want to encourage them to invest in the rehab centre to give a second chance to those children; the victims of circumstances because there is still hope for them. Apart from just engaging the children in the social media aspect, they should also be engaged in using their hands and brains.
Those are the types of things we want to encourage our children to do and change the narrative that boys can always become responsible human beings. We want to change the narrative of yahoo, yahoo, kidnapping, terrorism, and banditry. We need to change that narrative and that is what this initiative is all about.
Why the partnership with Akwaaba African Travel Market?
We are interested in people that are interested in boys. So, it Is not easy to get partnerships or sponsors.
I have been seeing Ikechi Uko, the Akwaaba man on television most of the time. I know that apart from just showcasing Nigeria, he showcases West Africa.
He showcases the talents and the different things that are happening, the culture, and tourism in Africa as a whole. So, I don’t want to limit my children to just Lagos State.
I want them to be able to interact with people from different parts of Africa too. So, by encouraging them to take part in the Jollof War competition at Akwaaba this year, we further expose them to international standards and that is why we are partnering with Akwaaba.
