Monday, December 27 2010, at the headquarters of Ifelodun local council in Amukoko Lagos state, there was a unique gathering of over fifty sets of twins and multiple births in an atmosphere of fun, a celebration of the uniqueness of their births and their talents as a reminder of their social and economic value in the society. The event which turned out to be a thrilling spectacle for dwellers of Amukoko was also an opportunity to share the love of the yuletide with people in less focused communities.
The event was put together by Taiwo Akinyemi a business consultant and motivational speaker, in his speech to the gathering of mostly identical faces, he shared his vision to build the organization to be known as The Inspired Twins into a platform for eradicating the culture of begging for alms with twin babies on the streets especially among the Yoruba tribe of Nigeria. This vision which he shared with his late twin sister puts the “Inspired twins” in the middle of a conflict of culture and child abuse but he is willing to face the challenge with the support of other prominent twins in the society and the many twin organization in Nigeria that share the same vision with theirs.
Thanks to the good use of social networking site facebook for their mobilization, the large turnout of stakeholders – twins from different fields of professional expertise led to an executive committee being setup to see to the affairs of the organization as they plan numerous developmental programmes for the year 2011. Among the special guests present were singers/models Taiwo and kehinde Campbell who seized the opportunity to share gifts as their way of giving back to the society. In their words “this is the real Lagos, this is the real Nigeria, this is where our politicians should visit, this is where it really hurts”. Nigeria being well known for having the highest natural concession of twins and multiple births in the world, the Campbell sisters called on governments and businesses to look into this unique market and support the initiative to reduce the scourge of child abuse in our society.
A meeting of the executive committee has been slated for January 2011 and fingers remain crossed as the New Year rolls in quickly. For the people of Amukoko, it was a memorable experience and they look forward to more of such events.
