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| Cross Section of people at the event. Photo by Push Media |
... as he awards
scholarship to over 100 students
By Oluwagbenga Bankole
Legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has
suggested that for government to fight
and nip corruption in the bud or reduce it to a minimal level in Nigeria, its
citizens must be given free education at all levels and also strive to provide
employment opportunities for the youth.
He noted that
“educated citizenry is a potent way to fight corruption as no educated citizen
will encourage any politician especially those who are gainfully employed to go
and loot to go and loot the treasury and plough the dividends of the loot
either to himself or his community”
Olanipekun, made the remarks in an address he presented on
the occasion of the 21st edition of the “Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Award”, at
“Iyaniwura House, Moshood road, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State yesterday.
The 2017 scholarship
awards which comes in different category
is from secondary to university levels,
as over 100 awardees received their cheques,
including special awardees and law school students.
The beneficiaries cut across local governments, states,
religion and geographical zones, as many numbering over 200 have graduated from
the scheme.
He said rather than sloganeering and offering rhetoric of
fight against corruption, what we should do is to be introspective and retrospective
and provide means for all our teeming youths to enjoy free education from primary school to
university level.
According to him, “our government and rulers must quickly
come to terms with the miserable conditions permeating the entire Nigeria landscape,
and appreciate the basic fact that government and governance are basically
about providing happiness and basic amenities that make life worth the living
for the citizenry.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, pointed out that the youth
of Nigeria are despondent, they have no hope in today and government at all levels
are not making efforts to provide assurances for them for tomorrow.
He added: the few who have acquired university and higher
degrees are jobless, PhD holders apply for jobs which attract less than N50,000
salary per month and yet, they don’t succeed.
He challenge all wealthy Nigerians within and outside the
country to have a re-think about our attitude to life and humanity, as well as our
approach to the orchestrated fight against corruption by looking inwards as
well as backward to lend a helping hand to the less privileged ones in the
society, especially those who are brilliant but indigent by assisting them to
acquire education.
Olanipekun posited that what Nigeria needs today are not
preachers but practical and honest men
and women whose motto is not “do as I say” but “do as I do”, saying we need
missionaries rather than gospellers.
He advised leaders at the state and federal levels of
government to provide the basic needs for the people as stated in the constitution, which citizens
of all civilized and democratic climes in the world don’t take for granted.
Earlier, the chairman, Board of Trustee, Chief Wole
Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme, Mr. S.S. Omoyeni, said about two hundred
students have so far enjoyed the scholarship in eleven public schools in Ikere-Ekiti.
Omoyeni added that the awards covers 16 local governments of
the state, 47 students for the 2017 awards are from Ikere-Ekiti, while 24 students are from other local governments of the state
while many of them have graduated from the scheme.
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