Olubadan chieftain seeks support to enrol out-of-school children in Ibadan

The Baàmẹ̀kọ́ of Ibadanland, Chief Saheed Oladele has sought the support, partnerships and collaborations of well-meaning Ibadan indigenes and other lovers of Ibadan towards the actualisation of his goals to bring over 300,000 out-of-school children back to school and rehabilitate them.

He made this statement while getting decorated as the Grand Ambassador of Ibadan Culture by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), the umbrella body of all Ibadan Indigenes, clubs and associations home and abroad on Saturday 20th January at the Erudite International Knowledge Village, New Bodija, Ibadan.

The decoration of Oladele was coordinated by the President-General of CCII, Barrister Ajeniyi Ajewole.

The colourful programme coincided with the opening of the Office of  Baàmẹ̀kọ́ of Ibadanland and the inauguration of directors of different departments drawn across professions.

The event had the executives and over 50 committee leaders and members of CCII, the newly inaugurated directors in the Office of Baàmẹ̀kọ́, friends and families of the Ibadan Chief in attendance.

Speaking, CCII President-General, Barrister Ajewole noted that the decoration of Chief Saheed Oladele was because of his sterling contributions and remarkable impacts as a major player in the educational sector of Ibadan and Nigeria.

“The Baàmẹ̀kọ́ of Ibadanland has distinguished himself as a promoter of quality education in the country. He is someone who is worthy to be decorated as grand ambassador of Ibadan culture.

Many people may wonder why we have chosen to decorate him, we are decorating him because education is part of Ibadan culture. The first university in Nigeria is in Ibadan.

In his words, the Vice President-General 1 of CCII, Dr Tirmisiyu Oladimeji said Saheed Oladele is tested and trusted. We first sent one of our children who is about to complete his university education to his school, Erudite Millennium Limited, and we are happy with his performance.”

In his address, the Chairman of 2024 Ibadan Cultural Week, Balogun Gaphar Ojetola, noted that he got the information about the groundbreaking records and success of Saheed Oladele’s school in the far away United Kingdom.

He said that he was surprised to know of the activities of the Erudite Chairman from overseas.

‘I got to know about Erudite Millennium in the UK. I was surprised that someone in Ibadan is doing something great like this, putting Ibadan on the world map of 21st-century education. It was when I came back and I began to see his Baàmẹ̀kọ́’s billboards around Ibadan that I asked about him.

Oladele while speaking, said “I will use the Office of Baàmẹ̀kọ́ of Ibadanland to rally round support to renovate schools in Ibadan.

“Many schools are windowless, doorless, and the students are learning in an unpleasant environment.

“We will work with relevant stakeholders to reduce the number of out-of-school children in Ibadan.

“I recently learnt that Oyo State has over 700,000 out-of-school children and this is unacceptable.

“We want to use our office to promote training and entrepreneurial skills. We want to give scholarships to brilliant and indigent students in (public) schools. Some of them are brilliant but the brilliance will just end there if they do not have the right support system. With your support, we will give them scholarships.

“Being a student of public school should not stop you from acquiring 21st century education. We have a lot of programmes.

“We will promote Yoruba language and culture and wage war against vernacularisation of Yoruba language in Ibadan schools. We will equip Ibadan secondary school students with reliable entrepreneurial skills and improve teachers’ efficiency through continuous professional development (CPD).

“Our goal is to raise funds to provide different categories of scholarships for talented, brilliant and indigent students across Ibadan and get the over 300,000 out-of-school children in Ibadanland back to school and rehabilitate them. In addition, our school quality assurance and cultural advocacy team will wage war against examination malpractices in Ibadan schools and raise the bar of discipline among students. “