Lions Club Int’l spends $1bn on humanitarian

The Lions Club International said that it spent over $1 billion globally on humanitarian service since the last 100 years of its existence.

Mr. Kumar Raju, an international director of the club revealed this at a news briefing on Wednesday in Ilorin to herald its 12th Multiple District Convention in Nigeria.

Raju noted that Africa took the larger part of the club’ grant to humanitarian service. According to him, about $50 million grant are donated annually by members of the club across the world to pursue various projects of the club.

He explained that aside meeting the humanitarian needs, the club had also served in the area of disaster reliefs, saving sight and serving the youth among others.

He said that the club would be willing to assist Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) if there a request to that effect from government.

The senior Lions member said that over 300 million people had be en assisted against blindness across the globe, lamenting that 413 children die every day due to the lack of injection that costs less than $1.

Raju, who stated that the club would celebrate its centenary in June, 2017, said that the club was set to tackle diabetes.

Also speaking, the council chairperson of the Nigeria Mr. Kola Oyekanmi, said that the club had since 1917 aided the blind and visually impaired, championed youth initiatives and strengthened local communities through hands-on service and humanitarian projects.

According to him, the club that started in Lagos in Dec 1964 with 24 member can boost of 6000 members across 261 clubs in the country.
“Lions in Nigeria have built monuments in terms of physical structures that continue to serve as legacies

“Some of these included but not limited to Motherless Babies in Lekki, the Leprosarium in Ogbomosho, a block of hostels for children with Special Needs in Ilorin and several boreholes in Asa and Ilorin South local councils of Kwara,” he said.

Oyekanmi asserted that the club partnered Sight Savers International to conduct cataract surgeries for over one people in the country.
The four day convention with the theme ‘Centennial Celebration of Humanitarian Services in Harmony,’ is expected to draw over 3000 members from within and outside the country.