Kunle Adelabu & Mariam Akinloye
-Teachers, students, non – teaching staff too
Sen. Adeseye Ogunlewe, Chairman, Ikorodu Division Resources Development Group (IDRDG) and member, Board of Trustees (BOT), Oriwu College Old Students’ Association of Nigeria (OCOSAN) (2nd left) presenting Excellence award to Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, Chairman, Nigerian Majority Leaders Forum (left). With them, Mr Akeem Bello, Principal, Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu (2nd right) and the representative of Tutor – General/Permanent Secretary, Education District II, Mrs Adekanye (right) at the Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu Prize Giving Day/Recognition Ceremony on Wednesday.
The premier college in Ikorodu Division of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, Oriwu Model Senior Model College, has appreciated contributions to the development of the school, academic excellence and exceptional performances in other areas.
The recognitions came as the school held another Prize Giving Day/Recognition Award on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
At the award ceremony held at the College hall, were Sen. Adeseye Kingsley Ogunlewe, Chairman, Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG) and Member, Board of Trustee, Oriwu College Old Students’ Association of Nigeria (OCOSAN), Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru, Charman, Senate Committee on Industries, Rep. Babajimi Benson, Chairman, House Committee opn Defense, Hon. Sanai O.B. Agunbiade, Chairman, Nigerian Majority Leaders Forum and Majority Leader, Lagos Assembly, and Sir (Dr) David Sunmoni, Pro – Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo.
Others were Alhaji (Chief) Mutiu Owolabi Ishola Lemomu, Chairman, Board of Trustees, OCOSAN, Sir (Otunba ) Ayodele Elesho, Agbaakin of Ikorodu Kingdom, Engr. Charles Longe, immediate past President, OCOSAN, Mrs Christiana Li, OCOSAN Chieftain and Mr Herman Olanrewaju.
Among those awarded for their performances in 2021-22 academic session were Oketade Bamidele, Best Vice Principal, Mrs Nwankwo Kanu, Best Head of Department, Mrs Ogunlegan, Best Year Tutor, Best Class Teacher, Mrs Olusajo Oluwatoyin Kehinde, Best Teacher, Mr Tunde, Best Ad Hoc Staff and Mr Animaya Alex, Best Security.
In the student category, Master Aina Kolapo, a former student of the college was honoured as the Best Student with WAEC results in 2022. He was presented with a laptop and award certificate.
Other student awardees were Agboko Ife-Oluwa (Best student in Science Department SSS 2), Fakunle Yoyinsola (Best student in Humanity Department SSS2), Badmus Wahab (Best student in Business Administration), AbdulRahmon AbdulAzeez (Best student in Mathematics SSS2) and Lawal Aishat Adetutu (Most Honest Student) among others.
Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, a former Minister, in his remarks, challenged the students to strive hard in achieving academic success and also go on in life to attain greatness with the support that they are getting.
Ogunlewe who was admitted into the college in 1960 and was recently inaugurated as member of the OCOSAN Board of Trustees, recalled his experience when Oriwu College was at a rural state without any facility available for him and his mates but yet, they still made it.
“This is a great day in the history of students when you have the opportunity of assessment of past performances for people who have distinguished themselves in their classes and WAEC examinations”, he said.
“I am saying this to thank God for your life because you students of today have many facilities to aid your education. As the Chairman of the Ikorodu Division Resources Development Group and that of the Ikorodu Town Hall, we were able to provide internet facilities for this school so as to have access to it 24 hours every day.
“We have paid for the subscription for a year and we shall be paying it forever. So, you have no excuse again not to pass 100%, unless you are lazy and if you are not, you have to work hard because, this is a stage that you must work to get the best out of yourselves because of the future which will be too competitive for lazy people in Nigeria”.
In Ikorodu Division alone, we have 30 secondary schools with 10, 000 participating in WAEC every year and if we have 60% pass every year, that is 7000 going into the tertiary institutions, where will you be? Are you going to be part of the best students or the worst?
“We are not training you to be among the worst people, but to be best and out of this 10, 000 (writing WAEC) every year, because we needed the manpower to develop Ikorodu which is now a city for the future”.
He announced that he would be embarking on the construction of a 300 – bed hostel for the school, an announcement that elicited applause from the guests, staff and students.
“On personal level, I am building a 300 – bed girls hostel for this school. There is no substitute to boarding system of education. When you are in the boarding house, you will have peers that you can emulate and teach you’’, Sen. Ogunlewe said.
“What I am saying is that, you have advantage of old students. We have two old students who have been Heads of Service in this State, Aremo Segun Ogunlewe and Alhaji Babatunde Rotinwa. We have student that have been Clerk of the National Assembly and we have students everywhere that are doing great, you can do so too.
“There is nothing preventing you from also becoming a Senator and whatever that you want to be”.
While further charging the students to attain greatness, Sen. Ogunlewe also commended their teachers for producing excellent students.
“The basis of my speech is to encourage you. I have so many things to do today but I decided to come to where I started in 1960 and share my experience with you and tell that the future belong to you and that the harder that you work, the better for you in future”, he said.
“There is no room for laziness again, you pass this gate but once. Don’t miss the opportunity because you will never pass through it again. It depends on you and you have to know what that you are doing and respect your parents because they spent a lot to bring you here and not to play. I wish you all the best in life.
“I also want to encourage our teachers. You are doing excellently well and we thank you for that. But for you, this school would not be as excellent as it is. We are ready to assist you more. Please, let us know where we can come in to assist”, he added.
The IDRDG Chairman also used the occasion to appreciate the immediate past Principal of the School, Alhaja Abiodun Sheryl Ogunniyi, whom he said never gave him respite.
In the same vein, he commended the Tutor – General/Permanent Secretary, Education II, Mrs Anike Adekanye, for her passion and commitment to the upliftment of education and the Principal of Oriwu Senior Model Collkege, Ikorodu, Mr Akeem Bello, for building on his successor’s achievements and for making his own marks too.
Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, who is representing the Ikorodu Constituency I in the Lagos State House of Assembly, in his own remarks, also charged the students to take advantage of the support being provided them to be better people in life like former old students of the school and also return to the school to give back.
“Whatever that we are doing this morning might be useless if you don’t resolve within yourself that I also want to finish from this school and come back to give back to the school because former students of this school are always proud to come back to the school”, he said.
“They did not just finish from the school and turn their back to the school. Senator Seye Ogunlewe told us that the old students of this school are planning to give you internet facilities and that will broaden your knowledge.
“The facility (internet) they are to give you is not to be watching nonsensical things on your phone, rather, it is to make your phone a global library where you can find anything you want to know. They have given you what to broaden your knowledge and it would widening the scope of your accomplishments in life and also make you be at a vintage position few years to come to help this school further”.
The Majority Leader of the Lagos Assembly said that prize giving ceremony is one of the things that encouraged him to study very hard while he was in school.
“One of the things that helped me in my life is award ceremony. In my primary school, from my primary one to basic 6, whenever it was time to announce our name, even before the Head Teacher mention my name, the crowd would have already echoed my name because it was automatic that I would get the prize and because of the fact that I knew that people were anticipating my emergency as the best, l was always on my toe. So, I maintain that constant disposition to my academics”, Hon. Agunbiade said.
He added that award ceremony encouraged those who are performing to do more and also challenge those not doing well to step up and be counted.
The Pro – Chancellor, Lagos State University, Sir David Sunmoni, who also recalled the very challenging environment he and his colleagues passed through in Oriwu College, also charged the students to strive hard to achieve greatness since everything needed are being provided for them.
Mr Akeem Bello, the Principal, Oriwu Senior Model College, Ikorodu, speaking in a chat with THE IMPACT, said that the award ceremony is aimed at sustaining the tradition of rewarding academic excellence in the premier college.
He said that the programme is also targeted at recognizing the contributions of staff of the school and other notable individuals to the academic achievements of the school.
Also at the award ceremony were Alhaja Abiodun Ogunniyi, the immediate past Principal, Oriwu Senuor Model College, Com. Oluwafemi Fakolade, Chairman, NUT, Ikorodu, Alhaji (Dr.) Hammed Sunmonu, President, OCOSAN and Mr, Wasiu Tijani, National Secretary, OCOSAN, among others.
