Adebanjo urges mothers, others to prioritise

The Afenifere Leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has urged communities to prioritise the education of their children as investment in future community development.

Adebanjo, who gave the charge while speaking at the 2021 Ibido-Ogbo Day celebration at the weekend, stressed that mothers particularly must be willing to make sacrifices for the education of their children because mothers constitute the bulwark of the family.

The Afenifere leader, who is the Asiwaju of Ibido-Ogbo and Father of the Day at the event, said that many fathers could not shoulder the responsibility of educating the children alone.

He pointed out that while a polygamy set-up was a major reason why mothers had to take care of their own children, the harsh economic realities of today, which have rendered many men incapacitated financially, demand that women, in polygamy or monogamy, would also need to make sacrifices.

Chairman on the occasion, Mr. Folasade Adekoya, in his welcome address, announced that the council had initiated a programme of educational counselling and financial support for children of the community.

He stated that education had always been a priority in the community, and pointed out the trail blazing achievement of an indigene of IBIDO-OGBO , late Samuel Olukoya, who was among the pioneer students of St. Andrew’s College, Oyo in 1896. Mr. Adekoya, who announced the launching of a Palace Building Appeal Fund at the event, appealed for the continued support of community members and well-wishers in implementing the Council’s educational, cultural and economic development agenda. The IODC chairman specially thanked the youths of the community for their efforts in the village, ‘’ especially in areas of security, supervising our economic resources, assisting the elderly ones in cases of emergencies and general welfare of the village’’.

The 2021 IBIDO-OGBO DAY celebration, with the theme : EDUCATION FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, was a three-day event which featured free medical examination and provision of drugs for community members on Thursday, November 25, while Friday featured ‘’ IKOKORE NIGHT, ikokore being a special delicacy of the Ijebus, with the grand finale on Friday, November 27 which featured a fund raiser, award of prizes to school children in the community, cultural dances and performance by the ‘Agbo’ masquerade.