Currently, Nigeria approximates a jungle and a bedlam, regressing into the Hobbesian state of nature where life is nasty, brutish and short. It is a resource-rich country, but poorly managed and ruled. There is so much poverty in the midst of plenty. All these problems can be traced to the doorsteps of our leadership class. In fact, the point has been made ad nauseam that the causative factor in Nigeria’s underdevelopment is failure of the leadership class.
Many of those in leadership positions in Nigeria are guilty of a laissez-faire management style. They fail the nation in order to fund their fancy. They fail to realize that leaders become great not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. S/he does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his or her actions and the integrity of his intent” so says Douglas MacArthur.
This definition is perhaps the motivation behind the interrogation of a five-year leadership qualities displayed by the President of the University of Ibadan Women Society (UIWS), Dr. (Mrs.) Eyiwunmi Olayinka who practically turned around the lot of the society for the better, impacting the society positively and leaving worthy legacies.
University of Ibadan Women’s Society (UIWS) is a voluntary organization with membership comprising all female members of senior staff and wives of male members of senior staff of the university. It was established many years back to, among other functions, take care of the interests of the members, seek the welfare of the members as well as strive to improve the living conditions of the members. Statutorily, or perhaps in principle, it is expected that the wife of the sitting vice chancellor will drive the Society in order to ensure greater impacts throughout the tenure of her husband.
It is against this background therefore, that the wife of the 12th vice chancellor of the university, Mrs. Olayinka assumed the leadership of the UIWS, consequent upon the appointment of her husband, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka in 2015. However, driven by her philosophy that we are here to live, to love and to leave legacies, Dr.(Mrs.) Olayinka did not hesitate to take up the challenges thrust upon her by providence as she swung into actions.
No sooner did she assume the leadership position of the society than fortune began to smile at the UIWS. Her remit included the then crèche which is now known as Bode Amao Creche, Nursery and Primary School. The school is the creation of the UIWS. Mrs. Olayinka, according to reports, was confronted with some challenges in the school, including inadequacy of classrooms. As a matter of fact, the school was in the habit of rejecting interested parents as a result of inadequacy of classrooms and facilities.
Motivated by the passion to expand the school, the soft-spoken lecturer in the Department of European Studies, University of Ibadan (UI) soon approached the initial benefactor of the school, Chief Bode Amao for further assistance. As God would have it, Chief Amao obliged the request, while the VC, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka, graciously approved land for expansion. Today, the school boasts of so many classrooms and facilities just as the enrollment capacity has increased.
In a far more creative manner, Mrs. Olayinka bought shares in some companies with the N30million she met in the account of the school, generating eight million naira dividends over time and began to erect fences around the school with the return on investment. She has indeed taken the school to higher heights. Under her leadership, the school’s curriculum was improved with the introduction of two European languages – French and German – to pupils in KG1 and 2.
Apart from the success story of the school, Mrs. Olayinka heard the plight of some female students of the University of Ibadan who lived off-campus. Given the fact that the university could not accommodate every student on campus, she mooted the idea of building a female hostel in the university on behalf of the UIWS. She went around and solicited assistance. Hear her: “As concerned mothers and out of the desire to save our girls, our female students, who are more vulnerable to these vices, we thought of building a hostel”.
“Of course, we know that we are unable to provide accommodation for the thousands of them that are admitted yearly on campus, but whatever number we are able to offer a safe haven will have been rescued from the numerous potential dangers that are out there. And this is the story behind Folu Adeboye Female Hostel”.
“That we have an agro processing centre named after Her Excellency, Engr. (Mrs.) Tamunominini Makinde today was born out of UIWS’ desire to give scholarships to indigent female students throughout their academic career. We therefore started with the registration of an NGO, Agro Impact Projects and Empowerment Initiative. The NGO is established with sub-initiatives that explore the value chains of economic trees, cassava, tomato and pepper, maize, fish processing, plantain and banana. It also has a non agri-based component tagged Comfortable Career Cloud with its main focus on providing a conducive career development environment for female academic and female non-teaching staff of the University of Ibadan”.
“Today, we can boast of having developed technologies for the production of export quality pure shea butter, plantain chips, cassava flour, maize biscuit known in common parlance as kokoro, different kinds of soaps made from plantain and banana waste, tomato and pepper paste, tomato and pepper pellets, briquettes made from wood waste”.
“We are currently working with the Office of Her Excellency, the First Lady of Oyo State, Engr. (Mrs.) Tamunominini Makinde to foster a partnership relationship that will impactfully facilitate the empowerment of Oyo State rural women and unemployed youth”.
Under her leadership, UIWS has benefited immensely from the artistic flourish of an aesthetician. She sounds modernist and progressive. She does not come to follow the trend, rather she prefers to blaze a trail. She burns herself to give others light. Mrs. Olayinka will be leaving the UIWS with her head held high. This is indeed a big lesson for all those in leadership positions.
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. This is what Dr. (Mrs.) Olayinka has done, she is leaving enduring legacies. Her story is the greatest legacy that she is leaving behind. Legacy is not only leaving something for people, it is leaving something in people. Every leader must think about their legacy because they are writing it every day.
- Saanu is Media Assistant to the vice chancellor, University of Ibadan.
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