By Daud Olatunji

The popular axiom which says the rich also cry played itself out recently when  former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo publicly solicited for help for his kinsmen. Obasanjo who grew up in Ibogun community which comprises 17 villages in Ifo local government area of Ogun State lamented the State of infrastructure in his birthplace.

Former President Obasanjo

As a President, then, Ibogun became a Mecca of sort to politicians across the country as they celebrated  Ibogun Olaogun day with him on every December 27 . Ibogun, his birthplace, received prominent persons across the country and some projects including the location of a College of Engineering of the Olabisi Onabanjo University by the Otunba Gbenga Daniel administration.

So many goodies came on the way of the people of Ibogun, due to the emergence of their kinsman, who was then, the President of the country. As a result of Obasanjo’s position, all the Ibogun day festivals held during his eight years tenure were well attended.

But, after his exit from government, the place  became a shadow of itself, as it was no more visited by the politicians and contractors with a view to currying the favour of the former President. A visit to Ibogun recently showed that the place has been abandoned by the then regular faces while most of the roads in the area have turned to death traps as a result of the few vehicles plying them.

But, the recent donation of a mega science laboratory by five corporate bodies seems to have rekindled the old glory. The mega science laboratory was jointly built by five corporate bodies; Star deep water; a Chevron Company, Famfa Oil limited, Statoil Nigeria Limited, Petroleo Brasileiro Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The beneficiary school, Ibogun Comprehensive High School was Obasanjo’s former primary school which he attended 67 years ago. Then, it was known as United Primary School, Egbeda.

Obasanjo who spoke with his kinsmen during the commissioning lamented what he passed through on his way to the programme. Unlike when he was in office, Obasanjo said he got stuck in a traffic gridlock twice before he got to Ibogun the venue of the commissioning.

While lamenting his experience, Obasanjo said he had told one of the traditional rulers that he would soon join him at the programme, but, was delayed by the traffic at Ewekoro and Papalanto . He said; “When we got out of that I  told the Kabiyesi that we will soon be with you. When we got beyond Papalanto, and we met something that was more than what we left at Ewekoro. These kept us on the same spot for more than fifteen minutes in spite of my body guard and mobile policemen”.

In his remarks, he lamented his humble beginning, saying, he was not as lucky as the youths of nowadays who have modern facilities at their beck and call. Obasanjo was invited by the donors to commission the science laboratory built for his former primary school that had become a secondary school.

Obasanjo explained that he was one of the pioneer students of the school which was initially known as Ibogun United School Egbeda. According to Obasanjo, I want to say what brought about Ibogun United School was a joint effort of all Ibogun villages, they came together and we have about five schools around.

“All the villages had one school but all the schools ended in standard two, if you could not go beyond standard two that was the end and they came together and found Ibogun united which was the only standard three, it started from standard three and ended in standard four . The only place you could go was Ifo for standard six or you go to Abeokuta. We all found our way to Abeokuta.

“The other important thing I want to say is the partnership and collaboration that five corporate bodies came together not only to build this science laboratory ,but ,to do a lot of other things in the area of health care delivery and in educational sector in all the country.

“I want to say to you students and teachers that you are very lucky indeed. They said the laboratory has three sections, physics, chemistry and biology. I went to a very good school and if you don’t believe it ask me which school I went to. I went to BBHS Abeokuta. Even then, we did not have a modern Science Laboratory. I could not do physics,chemistry biology separately, I did physics with Chemistry because there were no good  facilities and teachers.

“Here you are, 67 years ago, we never had any vehicle passing through the road except for market day. And now you have modern Science Laboratory ,but, provided in your door step. Please take advantage of it. May be if I had had a good science Laboratory, I would have been a medical doctor who knows or I would have been working for deep water”.

In what looks like a stone being used to kill two birds, Obasanjo, who commended the donors for the project, appealed to them to come to his kinsmen’s aide in the area of infrastructure. Obasanjo called attention to the dilapidated condition of the college of engineering of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ibogun, Ifo local government of the state.

The former President warned that if urgent attention was not given to the institution, it will become a glorified secondary school. The former President complained that most of the lecture rooms in the college were built by his kinsmen ,but, the college seems to have been abandoned by the government , urging philanthropists to come to the aide of the college.

According to Obasanjo, the engineering faculty of the Olabisi Onabanjo University was started by the community, and all the classrooms initially were built by the sons and daughters of this community, along with the engineering building that was built by efforts of the children of this community .

“The science Laboratory that we have here encourages  the numbers of students of this comprehensive high school to seek and obtain admission to the engineering faculty of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Ogun State. “Like Oliver Twist, I will ask for more, unless we have a good centre for this place, it will become a glorified secondary school, and that’s not what we want for a university.

Its a challenge not only for us and the organizations that give us the honour for donating the laboratory. If you do it, we will thank you and we will never stop thanking you”, Obasanjo said. The former President also attributed his failure to become a medical doctor while he was in school to lack of good teachers and enough facilities.

Obasanjo said “ I want to say to you students and teachers that you are very lucky indeed. They said the laboratory has three sections, physics, chemistry and biology. I went to a very good school and if you don’t believe it ask me which school I went. I went to BBHS Abeokuta.

“Even then, we did not have a modern science laboratory. I could not do Physics, Chemistry Biology separately, I did Physics with Chemistry because the  facilities were  not enough as well as the teachers. Here you are, 67 years ago, we never had any vehicle passing through the road except for Ifo market day. And now you have modern science laboratory, but, provide in your door step.

Why we built the laboratory – contributors

In their separate remarks, the donors who were ; Star Deep Water; a Chevron Company, Famfa Oil limited, Statoil Nigeria Limited, Petroleo Brasileiro Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

In his remarks, the managing director, Star Deep Water petroleum limited Clay Neff who was represented by director of the company, Jeffery Ewing explained that the donation of a science laboratory is one of the programmes in their social investment plan aimed at improving the teaching and learning of science subjects in the schools.

He said , the gesture was aimed to further help in developing interest in science and technology among students. “We believe that education is the key to unlocking the potentials of the youths and developing their capacity for societal relevance. This is one of the reasons why the Agabmi co-venturers have committed to promoting quality education in partnership with the government.

“Since the inception of the Agbami scholarship scheme in 2009 , about 13,965 students in various universities in the country have benefited from the programme. In his own remarks, Chairman FAMFA oil limited Modupe Alakija who was represented by facility manager Atolagbe Oyeyemi said, the project was a baby of collaboration, saying, it took the partnership of several stakeholders with diverse skills to bring this and other projects which we have executed across Nigeria.

The Group General Manager of NNPC, in his speech described the project as a way of intervening in human capacity development. Represented by a manager, Iyabo Abayomi, he said the effort is geared towards partnering and supporting government’s effort in achieving the Milenium Development Goals.

“The science Laboratory is a fruit of partnership. This is a very good way of working because government cannot solve all the nation’s problems alone”. The managing director, Petroleo Brasileiro, Nigeria, represented by government relations /Nigeria content development manager, Meg Irozuru said the commitment was to help Nigerians have access to technical skills, quality education and employment opportunities.

“The Science Laboratory we are handing over today is intended to boost the standard of education in Ogun state and entire nation”. The Principal of the school,Sanusi Ayinla has appealed to the philanthropists in the country to come to their aide. Ayinla in his speech said the school has large space of land to accommodate projects like Information and Communication Technology laboratory,   well stocked library and home science laboratory.