Amusa M.T Olawale is the Proprietor, HOMAT Group of Schools, Igbogbo, Ikorodu, and the State President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Lagos State. He was a former Auditor and Treasurer of Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG). He recently completed his term as General Secretary of the same group. The educationist was also the former Chairman, NASFAT, Ikorodu branch. His tenure is being referenced till today as the period most of the infrastructure at the Islamic centre were built.
In this exclusive interview with Kunle Adelabu, the Publisher/Reporter-in-Chief of THE IMPACT newspaper, he bore his mind on how he got into teaching, why he left public school to establish what is known today as one of the largest private schools in Lagos State, as well as his engagements with the Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG). Excerpts:
THE IMPACT: Sir, there is no doubt that you have been contributing immensely to various aspects of human affairs. Looking at all your involvements, especially, as the pioneer of modern private school system, how have you been able to contribute to the development of the community and how has this also impacted on you?
Alhaji Amusa: As human being, my personal philosophy regarding whatever l do in life is laying legacies that would linger on and contributing positively to the society. Our scripture tells us that none of us is a believer or achiever except when you have touched many lives positively. To this end, I developed interest in the teaching profession right from my primary school days. During that period, we only had one learned person in the village. The man, late Chief Kolawole, developed interest in me and was using me to train other children in the village. I was just about 12 years old then. After leaving Modern School, I obtained form for Teachers’ Grade II Certificate and l was trained as a teacher. My interest in teaching also made me to join the NCE programme at Federal College of Education, Kotangora, Niger State. I later attended the University of Port Harcourt for my Bachelor in Education (B.Ed) and also University of Lagos for my Master Degree in Education.
While at the Government College, Ikorodu, under the employment of the Lagos State Government, I found myself occupying the students most times because many of the teachers found it difficult to attend classes. I was covering many classes to ensure that those students gain something on daily basis and have take-home assignments. It was this that made me discovered that I need a platform to impact on the young ones significantly. I wasn’t happy with teachers not attending classes as at when due and this prompted me to open a private school on 28th of September 1995. By the special grace of God and the interest that people have for me, coupled with my own attitudes to work, many parents patronise my school. The school has today metamorphosed into four different schools in four different locations. I want to say categorically that there has never been a year that we will not turn out at least 700 students and many of our students are doing great in their various schools, fields of their choice and places of works.
THE IMPACT: Let’s look at your school multi-locations system, some people are asking why you did this. Could you, please, explain why you sited schools in different locations unlike other private schools that have just one location?
Alhaji Amusa: We started HOMAT Group of Schools with one location in Igbogbo. We actually started with primary school in 1995 while we established HOMAT Comprehensive College in 2001.But when we discovered that the four buses plying Isawo/Owutu/Agric axis were not enough and also thought about the fact that there would be time when parents may not be able to afford the cost of buses and I knew that I had to satisfy them as well as the requests that we should site a school in their respective axis, we were motivated to open the HOMAT Pivotal College at in 2005 and after that, we experienced at Ogijo/NNPC/Odogunyan axis the same challenges we experienced at Owutu/Isawo/Agric. The road was so bad at that period that students got to school late. This, coupled with requests from parents and the need to satisfy them made us opened a branch at Odogunyan in 2013. That was how HOMAT Unique School was established in Odongunyan. The same challenges and requests also came up along Ijede road, thus, the establishment of HOMAT Academy at Idi-Iroko. That was how the four schools were established.
When we look at the challenges that we were having with vocational training, I went further in establishing HOMAT School of Basic Studies and we secured an approval from the Ministry of Education for tutorial and vocational studies. We started computer studies, catering and hotel management, secretariat studies and tutorial for JAMB and WAEC. Just few weeks ago, HOMAT Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre was approved by JAMB. It is a computer-based centre and we have 280 systems which was approved for JAMB registration and CBT tests.
All what I have been doing was working towards parents’ satisfaction. That led us to all the schools that we are having and we are thankful to God for that.
THE IMPACT: There is no doubt that HOMAT is one of the largest private schools in the state and also that you have been able to satisfy parents and contribute immensely to the development of the community in terms of making education accessible to the people of Ikorodu division. But sir, what impact has your school had on your students over the years and how would you describe the performances of those that graduated from the school in their various places of engagements?
Alhaji Amusa: I want to thank you for the question. As a school, we groom and churn out at least 700 hundred students every year and we do issue testimonial to those in the SSS 3 and JSS 3 classes. Many of these students are doing very well in their various chosen fields of human endeavours and for those who are still in the higher institutions, they are also doing very well from available information at our disposal. We have many of them in medical institutions, financial institutions, music and sporting sector. There is no institution in Ikorodu that does not have one or two of our students working there. There was a time that I visited a friend who is more or less a family member at the General hospital and the first doctor that I met happened to be a former HOMAT student. That has been my experiences in many other places like that. Many of them have equally traveled outside the country and are doing very well. I can still recollect when my daughter was having her introduction, I was amazed with the contributions of these old students. These are children that we tutored and are trying to pay back. Presently, we have old students’ association comprising about 10 sets. Students started graduating from our school in 2001 when we started having WAEC and we have been doing that till date in all the four schools we are having. All the schools are approved by the government for WAEC and NECO and we have been doing exams in those schools on yearly basis. We run the same system and teachers serving in any of the four schools can be transferred to another to teach.
THE IMPACT: Let’s look at your engagement with the Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG) which was primarily established to, among other things, help in solving educational problems in the division, as the immediate past Secretary, how have you been able to use IDRDG platform to address some of the problems that you said prompted you to leave public education system to establish private school?
Alhaji Amusa: When I was the Secretary of the group, we had so many intervention programmes which were designed to assist the government. We visited many secondary schools and discovered that most of them are over populated. In our categorization, the schools were rated according to their needs. Two years ago, we wrote letter to the ministry of education on our intention to pick two schools; namely Luwasa Grammar School and Ipakodo Grammar School, and fully equip them. Till now, we are still waiting for response from the Ministry.
In addition, we normally organize education summit on yearly basis and communique from the summit is usually sent to the Ministry of Education. We have already been seeing the impacts of that.
As a body established to contribute to the infrastructural and human developments of Ikorodu Division, we also organise an annual memorial lecture in honor of Prof Adegbola who was the first chairman of IDRDG and through the lecture, we have been proffering solutions to so many national problems. Apart from that, the group is equally working towards having one of the biggest science centers in the country which will be sited on 5 acres of land at the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu Main Campus. We have acquired land in the institution and it has been fenced.ln the next few months, the centre’s foundation will be laid. After completion, the centre will aid research and serve as source of revenue generation to the Lagos State Polytechnic and lkorodu division.
When l was serving as the Secretary of IDRDG, library was under my portfolio and it was refurbished while books were purchased through what we termed as ‘buy a book per month’. Through this initiative, members were made to donate on monthly basis towards buying books for the library monthly. If you go there now, you will find out that there is access to the library Wi-Fi for research free of charge. We also have computer systems for e-library which is equally free while newspapers and magazines are also being purchased on daily and weekly basis for the library.
The group also gives scholarship to indigent students. The last ten beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme are now graduates from various foreign universities as medical doctors while another five students have just been picked for scholarship. Through all these, IDRDG has been contributing to the development of education in Ikorodu division.
THE IMPACT: Sir, is there any plan to further develop the Ikorodu town hall which has been the pride of the division?
Alhaji Amusa: Ikorodu town hall was built by the entire division and it was completed through the efforts of the founding members of the IDRDG. I could still recollect when I was still living at Owolowo area where my grandfather’s house was located. Around that period, the edifice was abandoned for several years and it was the founding members of the IDRDG that completed it. When I was there as the treasurer, the whole building and fence were painted and we bought 250KVA generator worth about N8million to power the hall whenever there is power outage. The place is also fully air conditioned with about 24 horse power. We did this to make customers enjoy what they are paying for. During the tenure of Mr F. A. Lasisi, the tiling of hall was done alongside the grand floor, gallery and corridors. We also have interlock system in the open arena. Resource Group has been using every available means to ensure that the town hall is adequately maintained.
To replicate what we are having as the Ikorodu town hall, a piece of land has been procured in Bayeku area of Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area and the foundation will be laid any moment from now. The plan is to have the replica of the town hall in Ikorodu in every other parts of the division. This was the plan of the founding fathers. The piece of land at Bayeku town was given to us by the community, we only paid a commitment fee to the family.
THE IMPACT: There is a school of thought that believe that the advent and proliferation of private schools is responsible for the collapse of the standard of education in the public schools. As a private school owner and a member of the IDRDG, what is your view about this?
Alhaji Amusa: Personally, I don’t believe in that. Private schools are businesses owned by individuals and we ensure that standard and quality services are rendered and this has made patents to patronize private schools. In private schools, we do not allow standard to fall as we ensure that teachers attend classes as at when due and we also ensure that our classes are not unnecessarily populated. These are major issues affecting public schools. When classes are over populated, there can never be effective teaching for pupils in primary level because of their age. In private schools, we ensure that our teachers are adequately monitored to attend classes as at when due but reverse is the case in public schools where some teachers believe that whether they attend classes or not, their salaries would be paid. Most enlightened people now prefer to send their children to private schools.
THE IMPACT: Sir, many are saying that the societal problems that we are facing now in term of cultism, hooliganism and other vices are as a result of collapse in educational system and loss of value in the community. As a teacher and community leader, what is your take on this and how do you think these vices, particularly cultism that is rampant in the society, can be curbed in Ikorodu division?
Alhaji Amusa: Out of the 24 hours a child spends on daily basis, the highest they spend in school is 8 hours while the rest are spent at home. They are always at home every Saturdays and Sundays. The problem is that most of the parents are very busy and they don’t even have time for their selves. So, how do you want such patents to have time for their children. Ours is to occupy them with quality education and moral lessons while they are with us and this we shall continue to do. How did we get it wrong? A situation where a child between 10 and 12 years would be given expensive phone, such child is usually occupied with the phone as he or she has unrestricted access to all sought of information that negatively influence him or her. The society that we belong to has also contributed immensely to the problem. Most of our leaders, especially politicians, make use of these boys as political touts and pay them huge amount of money. The implication is that it is easy to make money you are one of the bad guys. They have been made to understand that they can also make it without being serious and of good characters. Majority of the problems are caused by the society and parents who do not have time for their children. This is where we have gotten it wrong and that is now causing the challenges that we are facing in various communities.
THE IMPACT: Lastly sir, how will you describe the state of development in Ikorodu Division and how do you think the division can get it right and make itself relevant in the state?
Alhaji Amusa: HOMAT will be 25 years in September and sincerely as a businessman, Ikorodu is developing on daily basis and it would continue to develop because Ikorodu is the only place people are now moving to because there is no more space on the mainland and island. It is only in Ikorodu people can get accommodation and piece of land to build houses easily and affordably. The inflow of people will definitely contribute to further economic development of the division. When the fourth mainland bridge is finally constructed, it will create other roads into Ikorodu and also take care of traffic challenges on daily basis. By the time we have this, Ikorodu will be a mega city that everybody will reckon with.
THE IMPACT: Thank you for your time sir.
Alhaji Amusa: Thank you.
