THE UNVEILING OF PLANT A BOOK TREE FOUNDATION

On August 21 2023, Plant A Book Tree Foundation, a vision set up to cater to students and teachers in under-served conditions was unveiled.

According to the founder Emmanuella Edun-Adedeji, the concept was formed when she visited several public schools and saw the despicable living conditions therein.

The Foundation was unveiled with a 3-day webinar that had Empathy As A Weapon To Revamp An Ailing Education Sector In Nigeria as its theme.

It had 2 interview sessions and two lecture sessions on day 2 and 3 of its schedule.

Day one which was the unveiling of the foundation was a quiet event which took place at the founders house.

The event depicted the non dramatic personality that the founder is believing solely on productivity beyond mere activity.

She decided to host the unveiling at her apartment to prevent the financial implications of renting an external venue stating that she needed all the funds she can garner to financially run with the vision of the foundation in the upcoming 2023/2024 academic year and part of the plans is the donation of notebooks and textbooks to students in 10 public primary and Secondary institutions.

The guests at the unveiling were teenagers and teachers both at her house and online.

The unveiling was shown live via the official Facebook page of the Foundation.

The Founder, Emmanuella Edun-Adedeji gave a brief talk which bordered around being visionary, patient and time conscious.

All guests at the unveiling left mentally rejuvenated according to a report gathered from them.

Day 2 featured an interview session of 

Prince Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon, the founder of Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF). Amongst numerous note-worthy achievements, he is an academician and art collector par excellence, he recently donated all the law books in the library of his law chambers to the law department of Crescent University Abeokuta, he also serves as Grand donor and Chairman Museum Supervisory Council, Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art , Pan Atlantic University amongst other selfless and humanitarian engagements.

He was interviewed by the founder of the Plant A Book Tree Foundation on a topic titled; Analyzing Nigeria's Score Thus Far In The Education Sector.

Prince Yemisi Shyllon didn't hide his pain and displeasure at the present condition of the education sector, he stated that several education bodies and policies should be scrapped because they engender division, mediocrity and their creation was unnecessary.

The second speaker on day 2 of the event, Mrs Shingi Chizanga is a director of the Africa Development Mission Trust in Zimbabwe, and an academician as well.

She gave a lecture titled; The Role Of Education For Mental Emancipation and amidst many words, spoke about the need to thoroughly discover then groom ourselves and the need to prove the content in people rather than the certificates or non certificates they possess.

The third and final day hosted Jide Ologun, Esq., a former chairman of the Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations(Lagos Chapter) amongst several notable positions.

He was interviewed on a topic titled; The Role Of Empathy In The Eradication Of Poverty.

He began by expatiating empathy through an acronym; E- Emotional intelligence, M-Mindfulness, P- Patience, A- Acceptance, T- Thoughtfulness, H- Help, Y- Yielding.

He carefully differentiated between empathy and sympathy.

Amidst many words, he 

stated that Nigeria's leaders need to come to the grassroot level to feel what the people are going through.

He bemoaned the suffering of the citizens and prayed for quick intervention by the government.

The fourth

and final session of the 3-day webinar was a lecture which bore same title with the interview session of Jide Ologun, Esq.

It was given by Dr. Leonard Okonkwo. Amongst several qualifications, he has a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology another Ph.D in Theology, is a licenced clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, is an expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and is the head of the psychology unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

He began his lecture by giving a definition of poverty, then types of empathy.

He said poverty meant being inferior in quality or of insufficient amount and  empathy had 3 categories namely; Cognitive, Emotional and Compassionate Empathy and he spoke thoroughly about his subject matter.

All interviews and lectures were recorded and lasted for an hour 30 minutes on Zoom and there was a question session by viewers.

The viewers expressed deep satisfaction about the event and the guest Speakers commended the founder of the foundation for the noble initiative.

Emmanuella Edun-Adedeji stated that primarily the foundation stands to empower the comfortability of students and teachers but secondarily, the foundation is fully geared towards the dissemination of life transforming knowledge and this it hopes to achieve via seminars, conferences and symposiums featuring notable positive change catalysts of the society, both local and international.

She is firmly geared towards policy implementation that will "let the poor breathe" where education is concerned.

The foundation embraces an inclusive(formal and informal) education strategy.