Some of the 2007 graduates, members of staff, GPI girls in a group photograph with the Co-ordinator, Grace Osakue

     In a goodwill message, the Honourable Commissioner for Health in Edo State, Dr. Wilson Imongan, commended GPI for the laudable programmes geared towards the empowered of the girl-child. Represented by Dr. Eghe Abe, Obstetrician/gynaecologist and deputy director of primary health care in ministry of health, Edo State, Dr. Imongan urged the graduating girls to carry the banner of GPI higher, wherever they go and assured that the government will continue to support GPI in her activities.

The commissioner also observed that adolescents were perhaps, the most important segment of society and because of their social characteristics, they are the country's most valuable assets. He said it is a fact also that adolescents may exhibit a myriad of problems at different stages of their social, economic, physiological and psychological development, and that they therefore, deserve all the help they can get so as to improve their coping skills and thus make them very useful members of the society. "I must,

Drama presentation by GPI girls during the ceremony

therefore, commend Girls' Power Initiative (GPI) for her numerous services to humanity, through the various activities such as this one we are witnessing today, that empower the girl-child in particular, and the nation in general", the commissioner said.
     The commissioner then noted that "the training is very apt at this point in time, the state government is more than ever committed to rendering youth-friendly services and has commenced the training of health providers to make their services youth-friendly," and urged the graduates to put into practice what they have been taught for the past three years.
     "You are to act as ambassadors to other youths so that they can also become aware of their rights and thus, increase the opportunities opened to them to make this nation greater, he added.
      The Commissioner for Information, Barrister C. Enoma, represented by Mr. Paul Aigboje, praised GPI for the good work she is doing in grooming young girls to become respectable leaders in the society.
      According to him, "in the light of the moral decadence that has almost overtaken the Nigerian society and the world in general, it is heartwarming to see an organisation that has the interest of the girl-child at heart" doing so much.
      The information commissioner, advised the girls to be change agents, saying if they adhere to the tenets of all they have learnt during the programme, there would definitely be hope for a morally upright society in future.
      The occasion featured dance presentation by the GPI girls in Roses class, a drama presentation by those in Diamond class entitled: Delayed Destiny", as well as a dance by the graduating girls and a rendition of songs by GPI girls in Pearl Class.
     Ruth Ikhide then told the graduating girls about the GPI Alumnae Association (GAA) which she explained, is an association that prepares graduates for the struggles ahead, and invited them to ensure they become active members.
      In her goodwill message, Ejodamen Isimemen, a graduate of GPI and founder of Young Girls Foundation, asked the graduating girls to make use of the information they have got while Mrs. Elizabeth Okoojion, a GPI parent and consultant on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), also advised that the graduating girls should not let what they learnt to waste. Barrister Agatha Oseki, the Executive Director of Women and Youth Advancement Programme, said, in her goodwill message, thta the girls should appreciate the privilege they had to have benefitted directly from GPI training and that they should testify to the greatness of the organisation.