The Ijesaland Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Leadership Development, on Thursday, in Ilesa posthumously honoured eminent Nigerians of Ijesa extraction including late Minister of Justice, Chief Ajibola Ige and the late Justice of the Supreme Court, Kayode Esho, at its second edition of Dr Lawrence Omole Annual Lecture Series.
Similarly honoured at the event which was dedicated to Engineer Mrs Johanna Maduka were late Chief Lawrence Ayeni and Isaac Ajanaku.
While speaking at the lecture attended by two former deputy governor in the state, Prince Adesuyi Hastrup and Erelu Olusola Obada, Osun State governor, Mr Gboyega Oyetola, who was represented by his deputy, Benedict Alabi, tasked the foundation to use the life and legacies of the late Dr Omole to sensitise youths on the need to embrace entrepreneurship.
He contended that the nation would need to fully embrace entrepreneurship as a tool for tackling unemployment, poverty and hunger.
According to Oyetola, the theme of the Lecture, “Ijesaland: The Milk, the Honey: the Collective Approach,” was a laudable attempt at taking the enterprising nature of the Ijesa people beyond peasantry level to a coordinated corporate or ‘mechanised’ level.
He stated that “adopting this collective approach will also put the Ijesa people on the world map and serve as a model for other tribes to emulate. Indeed, if this is done, Osun will become a state flowing with milk and honey and be a model for others to follow.”