In appreciation of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) gesture towards advancement of education in Oyo State, the Oyo State Government has lauded the Baale and people of Ojongbodu in Oyo Town for donating and handing over a 3-acre land and a block of three classrooms to it.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Rahman Abdul-Raheem, gave the commendation in Oyo during the formal inauguration and handing over of the Olodu Community High School, New Ojongbodu, Oyo, by its Baale, Chief Olaniyi Adeoye, Adegboye 111, to the government.
The Commissioner, a lawyer, who was represented on the occasion by the Zonal Inspector of Education (Z.L.E), Mr. Adekunle Idowu, inaugurates the school, which already has students in JS1 – JS3 classes. The school is located at the New Ojongbodu Layout, along Obananko Village, the ancestral home of the Ojongbodu people.
According to the Commissioner: “The success of this project is a determined effort exhibited by all to fully exploit the potentials of the young citizenry of this community in the education sector. I agree with the late South African President, Nelson Mandela, who said that: Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world. Education allows us to better understand the world in which we live and that is why through education, we have become thoughtful about what happens around us. Education is the instrument to fight poverty, hooliganism, Boko Haram, terrorism, hunger and the likes.
“When you are well informed, you won’t be deformed. Many children in the Northern parts of the country were abandoned by their parents and they now constitute nuisance to their comnunities and the Nation as a whole. Ojongbodu community has taken the right step at the right time. Chief Adegboye, you have shown the other communities that education is light and it is life. I hope they will emulate this memorable gesture”, he said, while urging parents, to “give education the seriousness it deserves. Ensure you don’t give birth to many children that you cannot cater for. Check your purse before you procreate because a child that you refuse to give education today will eventually destroy you tomorrow.
“The present administration has done so much in education advancement. The free tuition system that Governor Seyi Makinde introduced has drastically reduced the rate of out-of-school children in our state. We raised the education sector government budget to 20 per cent which meets the UNESCO recommendation standard of 15-20 per cent. In 2021, Oyo State moved from the 26th position to the 11th position in the WASSCE rating. We are working assiduously to improve the rating to single digit in subsequent results.
“I encourage the Ojongbodu Community to further assist the government by engaging some teachers through the Parent-Teacher Association platform. Government cannot do everything alone, but we will not abandon you in the area of provision of furniture, stationeries, etc. The government will be glad this facility is put to maximum positive use”, he said.
In her remarks, the Principal of the school, Mrs Margaret Taiwo, appreciated the Baale for conceiving the idea of donating the land and establishing the school, sttessing that: “Many communities will sell all their lands including where roads should pass. With this gesture, Baba Baale Ojongbodu and the community have advanced the course of education in Oyo State and Nigeria at large. In the next three years, this school would have gone very popular, bigger and advanced”, she said.
Revealing what informed the gesture to donate the 3 acres of land and building to the government, Chief Adeoye told New Telegraph that: “As large as this community is, there was no school at all, be it nursery, primary or secondary, and it is about 4 or 5 kilometres in radius. This is why for a start, we have built this block of three classrooms with Principal’s office, toilets and a deep well being commissioned today and formally handed over to the state government to run and control. The government has recruited teachers and brought in students that are already learning. With this, we have brought education channel closer to the people who hitherto had to trek or transport themselves to long distances to have access to schools.
“We have just started. By September when it will be one year that the school was established, we would need more classrooms. The Olodu Primary School will also take off. We therefore call on the Oyo State Government under the able leadership of Engr. Seyi Makinde, to give us more supports in the area of infrastructural facilities. We dream this school to be advanced to a higher institution in some years to come”, the Baale said, while admonishing the students against engaging in any social vices whatsoever.
Present at the inauguration were: the Local Inspector of Education (L.I.E), Mr. Lawal A.M, Mr. Debo Adeleke (Head of Section, Planning, Research and Statistics Department who represented the Oyo State Universal Basic Education SUBEB), the pioneer Principal Mrs Iyabo Makinde, Dr. Ayodele Adeoye (Chairman, Board of Trustees), Surveyor Tosin Oyewale (Member), Dr. Johnson Akinteye, (Head, Baptist Hospital Management Board), Hon. Femi Adetunji, as well as, some of the Heads of compounds that make up Ojongbodu community including: the 111-year-old Tiijani Oladele, (Aareago of Ladindin Compound, Ojongbodu), Mr Oseni Adebayo of Balogun’s Compound, Pa Moses Ojelabi of Jagun Ojongbodu, Chief Musbau Olokede of Eesorun Compound, among others.
