Wole Olanipekun foundation: inspiring hope for the needy, less privileged

With the level of poverty caused by increasing unemployment, inflation and lopsidedness in the distribution of the Nigeria’s common wealth, it is now apparent that government alone can’t unilaterally tackle the menace. All stakeholders including well-placed individuals, government at all levels, non-governmental organisations and corporate bodies must form a formidable coalition to be able to tame this infectious cankerworm.

Hearkening to this call, the Ikere-Ekiti born legal icon, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) endowed a foundation under the acronym ‘Wole Olanipekun Foundation’ to stem the tide of poverty in Ikere-Ekiti and Ekiti State in general.

Long before the conceptualisation of the foundation, Chief Wole Olanipekun had established scholarship scheme spanning over 25 years for undergraduate students from poor backgrounds; those pursuing Master’s degrees and PhDs. Thousands of Ekiti indigenes, who ordinarily could have been deprived of higher education and now arrived with degree certificates are doing exceedingly well in their chosen careers, courtesy of the scholarship awarded them by the legal practitioner.

A recent statistic released by a federal government agency shows that over 23 million productive Nigerian youths are jobless. This astounding number does not include those that are under-employed, but permanently jobless ones. Taking cognizance of this, no one would be comfortable to hear this sorrowful story of how the youth population is wasting away and endangering the future of our dear country, whose fortunes are dimming on daily basis, rather than soaring.

On April 24, 2021, Chief Wole Olanipekun acted like a truly patriotic Nigerian as he rolled out N20 million to empower the youth and aged women with feeble financial standing to be able to establish small scale businesses. This is aimed at boosting both the local economy of Ikere people and the expected spiral of this impact across Ekiti.

Under this impressive and commendable concept, hundreds of youths would get a sum of N50,000 (fifty thousand naira) each, while hundreds of aged and poor women would get a sum of N30,000 (thirty thousand Naira) each. The programme is expected to last for three years after which there would be a review of the programme with a focus on its dividends and the concepts has garnered to fashion a way forward for better progress.

Before the first set of beneficiaries numbering 200 got their cheques, they underwent a two-day entrepreneurial training, where expert groomed them on how best to make use of the opportunity by setting up small businesses to buoy their opportunities in the system and make them relevant in the economics scheme.

Addressing the beneficiaries, Chief Wole Olanipekun said he was deeply concerned and disturbed about the pervasive crime rate involving the youth of the country.  He said the geometric increase in the level of carnage and criminalities caused by insurgency, robbery, cultism, internet fraud, banditry, ritual killings, kidnapping ,prostitution, rape, drug abuse, drug peddling, corruption and theft were things that should rattle any right thinking members of the country and effort must be coalesced to save the future of the Nigerian nation.

Chief Wole Olanipekun stated that most rattling was the gruesome murder of six persons in Ikere Ekiti during a cult clash between two deadly rival groups on April 18, 2021. The legal luminary added that the occurrence, which he described as a saddening and shocking, was a signal and lucid message that something urgent must be done to savage the country from imminent collapse. He added that any nation where the youth are being neglected should automatically experience all manners uprising as being witnessed in the Country.

The senior legal practitioner, however, bemoaned how materials being donated for people as empowerment where it being underutilized. Olanipekun stated that he had verifiable evidence of how these donations were being converted into instant gains by beneficiaries by selling them off at give-away prices, at the expense of what they were actually made for. He pointed out that these materials were products of sweat and hard earned monies of people, which he believed should be judiciously and wisely used, rather than being erroneously regarded as part of the national cakes that can be plundered or wasted on inanities. Chief Olanipekun said such tendencies if allowed to continue could dissuade people of good conscience from helping the needy and less privileged in the society.

Chief Olanipekun SAN, who is the Chancellor of the newly established Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology in Ikere-Ekiti, said the development of the town was so dear to his heart and that he was ready to sacrifice a larger chunk of his daily, monthly and yearly earnings to develop the youth, help the aged and reduce the poverty index in the town and Ekiti State in general.

The lawyer said his mission is not only to empower the youth, but to see to their progress to be able to produce many more Wole Olanipekun in Ikere-Ekiti, who could be of tremendous benefits to the town. He said nothing is more profitable like continuity, saying no efforts would be spared to achieve the tax of making the future of the youths bright and rewarding for them to step into their shoes in the future.

The legal icon also beckoned to well-meaning Ikere Indigene to join the fray and from a strong coalition that would help in tracking the menaces of poverty and criminalities among productive youths to safeguard the future of the town.

Now that the anti-poverty and anti-crime programmes initiated by Chief Olanipekun have started to gather momentum, it is expected that the beneficiaries must reciprocate by translating these to personal and corporate economic gains and prosperities. The well-meaning natives, who are still watching from afar must take a cue from this and toe the same line for Ekiti to become a land and state we can all be proud of.

Dalimore Aluko, Assistant Principal, Ikere High School, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State can be reached through 08032712451, 08066181583.

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