The South-Western governors have been challenged to urgently address the state of education in the region if they truly respect the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his wife, Mama Hannah Dideolu.
The Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese of Methodist church, Nigeria, Reverend Michael Kehinde Stephen who threw the challenge on Monday in Ibadan at the farewell commendation service for late HID Awolowo, as part of her final funeral rites maintained that the current state of education in the region was not what late Chief Awolowo and his late wife dreamt of when he(Chief Awolowo) was at the saddled of government as Premier of Western region.
The cleric was particularly bitter about the current situation with several mission schools taken over by government, describing what is presently obtainable in such schools as nothing to write home about.
According to the cleric, the structure of many of the schools have become dilapidated, there are low morale teachers while many of the pupils are even without sandals or even slippers.
“This is not the type of education the late sage dreamt of and this is not the type of education our late Mama also wanted as the legacy of her husband.
“I will appeal to the governments in the South Western Nigeria to revisit the issue of education in the region and redress the situation if they really respect Chief Obafemi Awolowo and our Mama, HID Awolowo. Education will change the mindset of our people. No matter the economic situation,the situation must be redressed.”
Reverend Stephen extolled the virtues of late mama HID Awolowo, describing her as “a woman of faith” who was able to combine her duty as a mother along with her political activism.
“Mama was a woman of faith.Faithful living is unpredictable.With faith in God,the end has a lot of blessings,” he declared.
He also appealed to Awolowo family not to allow the death of Mama Awolowo to negatively affect the fortunes of Tribune Newspaper, suggesting the set up of trust fund for the paper.
The commendation service was attended by several dignitaries including Governor Abiola Ajimobi, his counterparts from Osun, Rauf Aregbesola and from Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode, wife of Solid Minerals Minister, Bisi Fayemi, former education Minister, Professor Tunde Adeniran, industrialist, Chief Bode Akindele, among others.
There was also a lying in state of Mama Awolowo’s corpse at” Tribune’s House” at Imalefalafia and her Okebola(Ibadan) family residence where various personalities also extolled her virtues.
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