What was growing up like for you?
I was born October 25th, 1953, I went to United Missionary Primary School (UAMC), Eleja, Ipokia, between 1960 to 1965. I then proceeded to Ibokun Grammar School, Ibokun, Osun State, between 1966 to 1970. I was staying with my parents while in these institutions of learning. After my secondary education, I went to United Missionary College, Oke-Ado, Ibadan, where I obtained my Grade 2 teachers’ certificate in 1976. I also attended Oyo State College of Education in Ilesha between 1980 and 1983, where I obtained my NCE certificate. I later proceeded to the University of Ibadan where I obtained my B.ED in 1996.
What motivated you to start EWI?
My passion to make sure that people around me are literate motivated me into teaching illiterates in my church as well as my community. As a matter of fact, it is a calling from God that gave birth to EWI. Generally, our objectives are to educate humanity in every sphere of life. Under this, we have literacy education for illiterates in the society, girls education and school outreaches, environmental education and community level intervention, livelihood and financial inclusion as well as health education and family planning. We have literacy centres in Ibadan and its environs, where people have been educated and have obtained certificates of reading and writing both in Yoruba and English. We also taught our students mathematics, verbal reasoning and quantitative reasoning modules, and basic information technology subjects. As a result of all these exposures to this educational upbringing, many of them have had a change of status and a better livelihood and many of them are now using the certificates they obtained in different organisations, within and outside the state. Also, we carried out a research on: Raising the bar: Closing the gender gap in secondary education in Oyo State in the year 2016. The research was carried out in secondary schools in and outside Ibadan like Baptist Grammar School, Oke-Ado, Orogun High School, Community High School, Ejioku and United Missionary School, Omi-Adio, amongst others.
What is the outcome of the research?
The outcome of the research proved that some girls have to work before they can have formal education. Some of them dropped out of school as a result of unwanted pregnancies, thereby putting an end to their education. So EWI has taken it upon herself to fish out the affected girls to help them continue their education. In the area of environmental education and community level intervention, EWI is already embarking on a project entitled: Strengthening the Resilience of Rural Livelihoods and Promoting Environmental Education among Young People in Oyo State, in two communities within two local governments namely, Akinyele Local Government, Enioosa and Lagelu Local Government, Aba Idi-Ogun. In this project, we are going to form an eco-club, where we train peer educators on climate change, land degradation and tree planting. We also empower the women on making of briquettes that is, alternative fuel for cooking instead of firewood and charcoal.
The standard of education has fallen drastically in Nigeria. What went wrong?
The factor responsible for the rot in the educational sector includes; the attitude of parents/guardians towards the education of their wards. The attitude of the students/learner towards education. Effect of the advent of technology on our students/learners. Lack of commitment on the part of teachers/lecturers and laxity on the part of the government towards financing education effectively. From the research we carried out in 2016, we got to know that many parents found it difficult to finance the education of their children, thereby exposing their wards to dangers of vending for themselves, which eventually caused a setback in their education. On the part of student/learners themselves, their educational attainment is nothing to write home about, thereby causing abandonment or failure in their educational pursuit.
The teachers/lecturers have their own share of the blame on the fallen standard of education. Gone are the days when teachers saw education as a calling and they were fully committed. Many of the teachers/lecturers nowadays are cheaters who are not really committed to the profession. Also, the attitude of teachers can be caused by laxity on the part of government on funding education in the areas of provision of educational materials, payment of teachers’ salaries, organising workshops/seminars for teachers amongst others.
How can stakeholders remedy the situation?
To remedy the situation, there is a need for commitment on the side of every stakeholder in the educational sector. Parents should see the education of their wards as a priority and should also ensure proper monitoring of their ward. They should know the type of friends they keep, the type of films they watch and also pay occasional visits to their schools. Teachers/lecturers should see their profession as a calling, they should work unto God and not unto man. The government should also see education as a priority over other involvements because these children are the future of the nation. If they are well educated, there would be lesser problems in the future. Also, information technology should enhance education or learning if used effectively. This can only be achieved if parents, teachers, community and government, monitor the way our children make use of information technology so as to ensure that they use it positively.
How were you able to combine the home front with your career?
The Scripture says in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I shall be eternally grateful to God for all my achievements in life. It is by His grace that I am able to record success both in my home and my chosen career. When we talk about combining the home front with my career, I can’t but give thanks to God for the kind of man He gave me as my head (husband). He was the source of my encouragement both in my academic pursuit as well as a successful disposition in my chosen career.
By God’s grace, I’m a retired secondary school principal in Oyo State. Throughout my service years, my husband did not see any area he could not assist in carrying out the household chores. While I was doing one thing, he would be doing the other. Whether we had house help or not with my husband around, I would not feel it. So, I was not overloaded with household chores.
What about in raising the children?
God also gave me good children who were easy to bring up. Bringing them up in the way of the Lord made children rearing easy for me. They are also supportive in seeing to the success of anything I embarked upon. When they were babies, they hardly fall sick, I was not an officer who would always take permission to take children to the hospital for one ailment or the other.
Concerning my chosen career, I believe in teamwork, a tree they say cannot make a forest. When I was a teacher, I was always ready to carry out my assignments to the satisfaction of my superiors. I was also friendly with my bosses. When eventually I became a superior officer, I enjoyed the cooperation of my subordinates. This is where the issue of sowing and reaping comes in, I never saw myself as a boss but I believed everybody was important in the smooth running of an organisation. Applying this principle anywhere I was the head of an organisation gave me the support of everybody, both teaching and non-teaching staff. In all these, I return all glory and adoration to the Lord Almighty who made things easy for me.
What advice do you have for the young people out there?
From my experience as a teacher, I discovered a lot of things in the lives of our young people. Many of our youth do not want to encounter any hardship. They just want everything to be rosy for them. Take for example we have many of our graduates who don’t have anything doing. Yet, they are waiting for white collar jobs which are nowhere to be found. There are many things they can engage in like farming, poultry, fishery, learning trade and so on. I know of a young man in my area that is making a living by selling MoinMoin, the business expanded to a level that he couldn’t handle it and today he is an employer of labour.
What advice do you have for the youth?
From my experience as a teacher, I discovered a lot of things in the lives of our youths. Many of our youth do not want to encounter any hardship. They just want everything to be rosy for them.
Self-denial is a virtue our youths of today need to imbibe. Our youth also need to be creative. They have to sit themselves down and think of how to better their lives instead of waiting for someone or even the government to help them out of their situations.
Some youths engage in illicit businesses which could lead them into trouble. For example, those who engage in Yahoo-yahoo will end up in a greater problem that they would not be able to solve on their own in the future. As a young man or lady, if you discover that people you are moving with are engaging in criminal acts, the best thing to do is to advise them to desist from doing such, and if they fail to heed your advice, the best you can do is to quit their fellowship.
Every shortcut to getting rich is of the devil. The Scriptures say in Genesis 3:19a “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread…” Those who engage in pool betting, Baba Ijebu, MMM and any other ways of getting rich apart from hard work is of the devil and not of God. Ladies, it is an evil practice to sell your body for money. Let all our youths engage in clean businesses/ jobs which would receive the blessing of the Lord. It is the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and does not add sorrow to it,” Proverb 10:22.
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