Ndidi spends Boxing Day hosting a party where he hands out goodies to children in Ajegunle

LEICESTER City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi spent Boxing Day handing out food parcels to under-privileged children in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State as part of a programme to give back to his local community.

Ndidi, 28, is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, so was given permission by Leicester to go to Nigeria for the Christmas holidays. He thus decided to put the time to good use by hosting about 2,000 kids from Ajegunle in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State, where he grew up.

Hosting a  Boxing Day children’s party at the Maracana Sports Centre, in collaboration with renowned businessman Yemi Idowu, the local government chairman Fatai Ayoola and the traditional ruler of Iwa and Apapa, Oba Mohammed Amodu-Tijani, Ndidi served guests at the event before handing out food items to the children. He  said his Christmas experience while growing up was one of the motivating factors for organising the event.

Ndidi added: “I feel like it’s a festive period and these kids deserve something like this. It’s something they will have to remember and the memory sticks with them. The happiness on the faces of the children too can’t be explained.

"When you do something for adults, the emotions stay with them only but when you do something for kids, the adults see it as well, so they also try to do the same. All we are trying to do is to create memories and I’m happy to be doing this because some of us didn’t have this experience while growing up, I grew up in the barracks like most people know."

Mr Ayoola, the local government chairman noted that the role of the authority was mainly crowd control. He added: “This is part of something we do every year to try and celebrate with the kids, especially because we are here in Ajegunle and they are friends."

“What we have done is to first accredit them from the local government secretariat and we drove the kids into this venue. We also made arrangements for those who would come unannounced at the Maracana Park and they would equally be taken care of as much as those inside so we can have a perfect party.

“It’s a back-to-back celebration for the kids of Ajegunle and we are elated to host Ndidi. This month alone we have had three visitors who have given the kids befitting Christmas gifts, so, what we are doing is to make them happy in grand style.”