The need for leadership of Rotary to Club of various branches to ensure inclusiveness in their activities came to the fore on Saturday at a one day Retreat organized by the Rotary Club of Ilorin Prestige.
The retreat programme with the theme “Membership retention”, was held at the Princess Luxury Hotel, Ilorin and it was well attended by eminent members and leaders of the Club.
Speaking at the programme, the Assistant Governor Supervising Rotary Club of Kwara, Rotary Club of Ilorin, Fate Neighborhood, Rotarian Ayo Olagunju emphasized the need for leadership of the Club across various branches to ensure members’ inclusiveness in all their activities.
Rotarian Olagunju who spoke on “Inclusive club and development through membership”, noted that the central focus of Rotary Club is connectivity and networking as well as humanitarian services.
He added that if members are carried along in the activities of the Club, it would bring about satisfaction that would make them stand firm and contribute their quota to the development of the Club.
“You must practice membership inclusion because inclusive cultured club will attract quality members and increase membership engagement, create opportunity for training and mentoring for the members and new ideas would also be brought on board for the development of the Club”, he said.
He commended the President of Rotary Club of Ilorin Prestige, Rotarian Kehinde Obaniyi for organizing the programme which he described as a form of encouragement for members to do more.
“Talking about membership retention, the take home for leaders is to get members involved, getting them engaged and making the activities of the Club more attractive by way of including fun and service projects.
“When you make the Club inclusive, it means that every member of the Club is recognized, the classification is recognized, their gender and age is recognized and given acceptability.
“This makes every member of the club to be more comfortable and all these things assist the Club to move forward and it makes members of the Club to be more engaging and then the Club becomes more attractive. It becomes a home for members of the Club. If all we have said is well taken and put to practice, it will assist the Club to be more stable and improve. And again, it will assist the Club to get new members because Rotary is by invitation and if you are happy in your Club, you want to invite your friends. This gives opportunity to bring in quality members”.
Another guest speaker at the event, Rotarian Omolola Dare who is the President Elect for RC Ilorin Sunrise, explained that friendship and membership retention is very paramount to Rotary Club.
She mentioned vibrancy, extensive networking, continuous listing of members, encouraging self education and inclusiveness as some the advantages of membership retention.
He emphasized the need for members inviting others to the Club to always investigate their character and work on those who have the giving spirit and could sacrifice their time, treasure and talent for the development of humanity.
In his remark, the President Rotary Club of Ilorin Prestige, Rotarian Kehinde Obaniyi said the retreat was organized to chart the way forward and ensure that the Club of maintains its prestigious position in terms of contributions to the development of humanity.
According to him “we make sure that we include all the chartered clubs under RC Ilorin Prestige including Interact, Rotaract of Ilorin Prestige and Offa Metropolitan to come together for the retreat.
“We believe in a prosperous club and as far as RC Ilorin Prestige is concerned, we are fast growing up. Within the short time, we can count a lot of achievements and with this retreat programme and many other activities, I can assure that we are going to build on the past gains and success stories of the club.
One of the participants at the retreat, Rotaractor Yusuf Mashood Agboola described the retreat as a productive and educative programme.
“Rotaractors here present today really appreciate the leadership of RC Ilorin Prestige for this wonderful programme. We are all aware that Rotary is about learning and learning. Today is another avenue for us to learn and we promise that the community and entire Rotary family will benefit from what we have gained today”.
