Okolo Jonathan Okhavhe,
Akoko-Edo Local Government Council Chairman, Hon. Tajudeen Alade Suleman Esq has said that education remained the best legacy parents can hand over to their children.
Barr. Tajudeen Alade made the assertion at Ojirami Mixed Secondary School premises during the student bursary disbursement ceremony put together by the Edo State House of Assembly member representing constituency 1, Rt. Hon Yekini Idaiye.
The Chairman disclosed that a lot has happened in the Local Government Area since his assumption of office nearly five months ago.
Hon. Alade Esq noted that lamentation of infrastructural decay in the area would not change the narrative, urging locals to support his administration in his quest of rebuilding the locality.
According to him, “The instrument of change is in our hands. We have not rested on our oars since the commencement of my administration. We must take our destiny in our hands by coming together in unison to realize the thinking of our forefathers.
The Local Government is very large but we cannot continue to lament its largeness. We must eschew lamentations and all forms of acrimony. Let us see ourselves as one Akoko-Edo”.
The Chairman disclosed that he was at Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area to fashion ways out of the quagmire of poor electricity supply and insecurity as a responsive Government.
“I’m in touch with the State Government for something to be done because our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is nothing to write home about. We must think outside the box to do things differently and I’m happy to note that Mr. Governor is very passionate about us and has been giving me all the necessary support”
The Council Boss intimated the people on the recent ground breaking ceremony in Dagbala and plans he had made to renovate the Ojirami dam to boost water supply to neighboring communities.
“Ojirami dam is a shadow of itself. I have interfaced with experts in Abuja. We are test running some procedures. The dam has the capacity of generating 13,000 cubic meters that can serve the entire Akoko-Edo and beyond”
He expressed optimism that plans were underway to make every facility in the school work, maintaining that education remained the bed rock of achieving success, citing himself as a reference point while also commending Rt. Hon. Yekini for the initiative.
“I cannot count the number of people who come to me both at home and in the office for enrollment fees. I appreciate Hon. Yekini for threading this path, looking at the present economic realities of the country at the moment.
“I enjoin you beneficiaries to study very hard and pass your WAEC and be able to justify the confidence reposed in you” Alade added
Also speaking, the Chairman, Planning Committee, Mr. Mike Balogun explained the criteria used in selecting beneficiaries to include, the physically challenged persons, indigent students, disaster affected persons and non natives permanently residing in the community, pointing out that the benchmark was premised on Arts and Science students.
On his part, the donor and member representing Akoko-Edo constituency 1 in Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yekini Idaiye, lauded the Council Chairman who he described as amazing, owing to his obvious developmental strides, praying God to continue to protect him in his desire to redefine the Local Government Area.
Rt. Hon. Idaiye appreciated Ojirami people for coming out en masse to support him on the 18th of March, 2023, irrespective of political divide, noting that the empowerment was devoid of any political coloration but to reciprocate the gesture of his late father who he said did well to educate him and his siblings in the midst of nothing.
He further disclosed that the ceremony would take place simultaneously across 16 schools of the Local Government Area, stressing that the one he did in 2019 was already yielding the desired results.
Speaking earlier, the Principal of the school, Mrs. Adeniran Mercy appreciated Governor Godwin Obaseki and his Commissioner for Education, calling on the great philanthropist to help donate computers to the school ahead of the proposed 2025 Computer Based WAEC examination.
In his vote of thanks, the PTA Chairman, Chief Oberemu Josiah commended the Council Boss on his giant strides since assumption of office, calling on him to interface with concerned authorities to regularize appointment of community teachers funded by the PTA, look into the perimeter fencing of the school compound and the provision of security to protect what he described as the big citadel of learning.
