The Executive Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) and The inspire Africa Foundation, brainchild of Mo Abudu, host and executive producer of the talk show Moments with Mo, are calling on Corporate Nigeria and well meaning individuals to be a part of the largest benefit concert ever to be held in Africa.

The inspire Africa Foundation in partnership with Lagos State and UNICEF is organizing a major benefit concert to raise funds to help prevent and protect street children in Lagos, from abuse, violence and all forms of exploitation. The concert is part of the “Make A Difference” campaign launched by the Inspire Africa foundation and will be an avenue to raise funds for the Unicef-Lagos Street Children project, a project aimed at implementing intervention activities for the prevention and protection of Street Children in Lagos.

It is a high profile event with an opportunity to give back, network and who knows, you could be a lucky winner of one of our Acts of Kindness Awards. Come January 31st 2009, all roads will lead to the Expo Centre in Lagos Nigeria for an unforgettable night of music, dance and making change.

In many ways Inspire Africa is a first for the entire African world. It’s all about creating credible media driven platforms through which we can engage ourselves and the rest of the world as Africans. Inspire Africa is a purpose built vehicle by which Africans and the rest of the world will come to appreciate our culture and our achievements and to know and understand us as a people.

We have realized that the ultimate task facing us as a continent is to build world class personas and brands, to “showcase” our own achievements in a global setting and economy. Our challenge is to credibly debunk the tendency of the western media that portrays us as the Dark Continent which exemplifies Disease, Despair, Destruction, Disaster, Destitution and Deceit.

Lagos State is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and the most populous in Nigeria; hence there are demands on social services as it is currently witnessing unrestrained population influx, urban growth, high unemployment, environmental challenges and institutional deterioration. The result is a growing population of people resident in slum where living is a daily challenge with many frustrations and uncertainties. In the process, homes are neglected, Children are left uncared for and lacking parental care, thus resulting in a high rate of delinquent children beyond parental care.

There are two categories of street children in Lagos State,

• Children that live on the street: Usually children trafficked for child labour who have escaped from the employers and gotten lost; thus they stay on the streets until they are rescued or become criminals and end up in conflict with the law.
• Children who live off the Street: Children who come out to the streets to engage in some form of income generating activities to make some money for the family and go back home to their families/guardians to sleep.

• Establish and operate three reception centres in the three senatorial districts of Lagos State to strengthen partnerships to implement intervention activities for the prevention and protection of street children. The centres will be situated within each senatorial district according to the locations with the highest aggregate of street children.
• Build capacities of government and NGO partners to provide services to street children.
• Empowerment of parents/caregivers and children by providing them with the right information, life, skill training (for children) and income generating skills (for parents and care givers).
• Advocacy with the Lagos State Governement on implementing policies to ensure rights of children survival, development and protection.
• Monitoring and Evaluation.