Canuk's membership surpasses 150 for the first time in its 20-year history

MEMBERSHIP of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (Canuk) has surpassed 150 for the first time in the organisation's 20-year history after five new member were admitted by the executive committee this week.

Yesterday, Canuk's executive committee admitted regional organisations the Nigerian Community in Rugby, the Nigeria Telford Community and the Nigerian Community in Bolton. Two cultural organisations, the Unity Schools Old Students Association UK and Think Yoruba First were also admitted having met the criteria for membership, bringing Canuk's total number of members to 151.

Flora Njoku, Canuk's vice chair associations, said: "We are delighted to have crossed the 150 threshold and now remain on course to hit our target of 200 by the end of the tenure in June next year. All of these organisations were carefully vetted and had to meet strict criteria like having at least 20 members, providing proof of their membership and attaching their constitutions to show they are genuine.

"At our end-of-year gala dinner on December 14, we will be handing out welcome certificates to all of them. This, however, does not mean we are going to relent in our recruitment drive, as we want to make sure that every single Nigerian in the UK is represented by at least one Canuk-member organisation."

Rose Graham, Canuk's publicity secretary, added: "With this incessant growth in our membership, our December gala dinner is clearly going to be bigger than originally planned. Between now and then, we are likely to get another 10 to 15 more new members, so we shall be making provisions for that in our planning."

Victor Aleva, the Canuk financial secretary, urged everyone who wants to purchase tickets to attend the gala dinner to do so by paying directly into the Canuk bank account. He added that they should do this pay making payments into the association's Lloyds Bank account with the sort code of 301553 and account number 00224400.