BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, and a former governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande, have advocated for the sustenance of the educational legacies of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The duo spoke at the 2021 Lecture Series of the Faculty of Education, OAU, delivered by Akande, on Thursday.
Oyetola, who bagged the university’s Awolowo Free Education award, restated his commitment to sustaining the legacy of free education in the state.
The organisers said that the award was in recognition of the governor’s efforts in turning around the educational fortunes of the state within the three years of his administration.
Oyetola, who dedicated the award to the memory of the founder of free education in Nigeria, late Chief Awolowo, and the people of Osun, described it as “an invitation to continue to seek better and improved ways to sustain free education in the knowledge and technology-driven world.”
The governor said, “Education is the most crucial aspect of our development agenda in Osun in view of its place as the driver of all the sectors and the face of sustainable development.
“Despite the limited resources at our disposal, we have sustained free tuition in primary and secondary schools in the state while also providing free feeding for our pupils to enhance their nutritional abilities and mental alertness.
“We have substantially increased our budgetary allocation for education and we are working tirelessly to radically diversify our economy to achieve our goal of sustaining free education up to secondary school level and affordable at the tertiary level.”
Dwelling on the theme of the lecture, ‘Awolowo legacies In education and policies: Enduring lessons for contemporary Nigeria,’ Akande said that the late Awolowo was an exceptional model in politics whose indelible legacies in education could not be over-emphasised.
According to him, the late sage believed so much in education as he, in 1952, awarded 200 scholarship to indigent students for university education having submitted in his advocacy for mass universal education as a panacea to socioeconomic development.
“Awolowo left behind imperishable legacies. He believed that the man’s greatest need is education. He ensured that every child must be educated. His policies were centered on education.
“Some of the Awolowo’s imperishable legacies were his consistent advocacy for true federalism to put an end to unchecked impunity of the then rulers, he fought for the unity in diversity among Nigerians as he used his innovative tendencies in governance to impact many lives,” Akande added.
The Vice-Chancellor of OAU, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, lauded the Oyetola-led government for investing hugely in the education sector as manifested in the success that the state had recorded.
Ogunbodede said, “This programme is aimed to honour our own, late Obafemi Awolowo, whose passion and love for education cannot be quantified. He used all the available resources to advance education as this legacy lives till now.”
The Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu; and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; lauded the enduring legacy of Awolowo.
