The Ojongbodu community in the Oyo West Local Government Council of Oyo Town has donated a three-acre parcel of land to the Oyo State government to facilitate the establishment of a primary and secondary school to commence operation by September.
In order to show their commitment, the head of the community, Chief Olaniyi Adeoye, Adegboye 111, Baale of Ojongbodu, together with the patriarch of the family, Chief Francis Adedayo Taiwo, in the presence of education officials last week turned the sod for the commencement of building of a block of three classrooms with toilet and office on the land.
The New Ojongbodu Layout located along Obananko Village, which was the ancestral home of the Ojongbodu people, has now been urbanized but without schools for the teeming residents of the new layout who have to convey their children and wards to far distances to attend schools.
To modernize the new community, the Ojongbodu people thought out the humanitarian gesture, believing that government alone cannot cater to every need in the education sector.
The schools to be named Olodu Community Primary and Olodu Community High School, Ojongbodu, Oyo, in the words of the Baale, will sit on about 21 plots of land worth over N30 million, according to the current selling price in the area, in addition to the ongoing structure that will gulp about N15 million.
He said before the next admission session, the building to house JSS 1 students would have been completed and a habitable shed for the primary pupils would have been erected and handed over to the Ministry of Education under the administration.
Asked what informed the gesture to donate the land and building to the government, Chief Adeoye said “As large as this community is, there is no school at all, be it nursery, primary or secondary, and it is about 4 or 5 kilometres in radius.
“Our plan is to establish the school and hand it over to the state government to run and control. The government will recruit teachers and bring in pupils and students by the time it takes off by September this year.
“Before we commenced this project, the government representatives told us that we would need to build a block of three classrooms with offices and toilets on the three acres of land that we have donated, to start off, and the government will continue from there.
“In essence, the government does not want us to just hand over a virgin land to them.”
Corroborating the septuagenarian Baale’s explanation, the octogenarian civil engineer, Chief Taiwo said: “This is a very laudable project meant for progress and development of Ojongbodu community, the society and Oyo state in general.
“Anything that concerns education should be given topmost priority because there is no legacy that we as elders can bequeath to the younger generation than education.
“What we are doing today is memorable because it further shows that Oyo West Local Government is a pacesetter in the town. Our local government bears the name of Ojongbodu. This donation is possible because our Baale himself appreciates the value of education.”
Both Mrs Victoria Owoade, Head of Section, School Services, Oyo West LGUBE and Mr. Adeleke Adebowale, Head of Section, Planning, Research and Statistics Department who represented the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) commended the Ojongbodu people for the historic and remarkable gesture.
Some of the Heads of compounds that make up Ojongbodu community, who were also in attendance, expressed their delight in the project.
They included the 110-year-old Tiijani Oladele, (Areago of Ladindin Compound Ojongbodu), Mr Oseni Adebayo of Balogun’s compound, Lasisi Tijani of Olode’s compound, and Rasidi Popoola of Baale Agbe’s compound.