The Senator representing Ogun West District, Chief Tolu Odebiyi, has given scholarships to 54 tertiary institution students from the district.
Speaking during the 3rd TOD undergraduates scholarship award ceremony and the launch of the Tolu Odebiyi Foundation in Ilaro, over the weekend, the lawmaker explained that he decided to offer the award to ensure that brilliant students from his district are recognised and assisted to excel.
He said: “No student should be allowed to drop out of school on the account of the inability of his parents to fund his or her education.”
Odebiyi also announced that he had secured the nod of the Federal Government to sponsor the Masters and Doctorate degree programs of students from the district, adding that two students would be sponsored to pursue each of their programs overseas for the next four years.
The senator expressed displeasure over the activities of some men of the Nigeria Customs Service in the border area of Ogun West.
He urged the Federal Government to explore the possibility of engaging youths in border areas in the country, as a way of curbing smuggling.
Odebiyi expressed concern over the death of a secondary school student in Ihunbo town in Ipokia Local Government area, reported to have been caused by an operative of the NCS, and therefore enjoined the security agencies to be more responsive when discharging their duties.
“No nation wakes up one day and closes it’s border indefinitely the way Nigeria is trying to do. We will be hurting ourselves economically. We might cripple some of our local industries by so doing.
“There are several companies located in Agbara industrial area who deliberately sited their companies along the axis because they want to exploit the proximity to the border with Benin Republic. I am sure we are all readily hurting those companies.
”I completely appreciate that smuggling is injurious to our economy and to our local industries, and I must commend the President for his determination to assist the local industries to grow, but we must be creative in the way to tackle this problem. We must think out of the box. I believe we cannot achieve success with the way we are going.
“We need the buy-in of the people of the border communities. What I will advice the government to do is to employ the youths of the border communities as borders guards to assist the security agencies. They know the terrain well and I am sure they will be of immense assistance to the quest to stop smuggling in the country,” he enthused.
and then