Why Senator Odebiyi Seeks Better Standard of Education

Olubunmi Omoogun commends the single-minded pursuit of improved educational standard for his constituents by Senator Tolu Odebiyi

The Nigerian education sector has been poorly funded in the past years, falling far below the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommendation.

UNESCO wants developing nations to allocate 25 percent of their annual budget to public education in order to bridge the gap between them and developed nations.

But some South-west National Assembly members and lovers of education are keen on providing quality education for the youths in their various communities. They are helping to give hope to indigent students that are yearning for opportunities to blossom through a decent public education.

Sen. Tolu Odebiyi, otherwise known as the ‘Prince of the Senate’, one of the Yoruba Senators championing access to quality education, has also made his Constituents’ education his topmost priority. He is shaping and building future generations of leaders under the auspices of Tolu Odebiyi Scholarship Foundation.

Sen. Odebiyi who is representing Ogun West Senatorial District in the National Assembly has continued to make positive impacts in the area of education, and broadening his socio-economic development impacts through his several constituency projects.

Apart from the annual scholarship awards of One Hundred Thousand Naira, (N100,000) and brand new laptops he gives to hundreds of Ogun West undergraduate students in various public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, he has also facilitated numerous community intervention projects for his beloved Senatorial District, Ogun West.

Receiving the Midas touch of the Iboro, Yewa North born Senator, are a Yewa legacy school named the Egbado College, Ilaro, which has been richly transformed and adequately equipped by the Distinguished Senator Tolu Odebiyi. We also have Alamuwa Grammar School, Ado Odo and other several schools in his Senatorial District. These have increased the number of schools facilitated by Sen. Odebiyi who is also transforming the lives and shaping the future of the youths in marginalized areas.

Politicians, market women, royal fathers and students have commended Sen. Odebiyi for his robust representation, selfless service and support to education as a first timer in the Red Chamber. Prominent among them are two former Senators from the same Senatorial District, a well respected woman, Sen. Iyabo Anisulowo who said that “Sen. Odebiyi is one of the best globally. We are feeling your impacts at all levels, especially with the scholarship awards, mentorship, skill acquisition programmes and different interventions in the affairs of the constituents, spanning the entire Ogun West Senatorial District, from Ota to Ado to Ipokia to Ilaro to Ayetoro to Imeko. Yewa College, our heritage school is impacted by you also upholding the labour of our heroes past. The great walls are standing behind you in Jesus mighty name”.

Another Senator, the erudite Sen. Kola Bajomo said, “Let’s be factual, Distinguished Senator Tolu Odebiyi deserves not only to be congratulated but also celebrated. He had worked assiduously hard to reach this level and he is still not relenting. He’s a beautiful representation of what is perhaps the best for the populace. This is just not rhetorics because it is real. After all the taste of the pudding is in the eating. Let’s continue to encourage him. Well-done!”

The former Senators noted that Senator Odebiyi has helped so many youths to acquire the formal education that will help them lead a life of dignity.

In the words of a former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the 7th Waziri of Adamawa State, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar who accentuated the importance of education and the need for the right leadership. Atiku went down memory lane when he said, “I was raised by my maternal grand parents. I remember sometimes we could barely afford one meal in a day. My journey to education is different, nonetheless, the destination remains the same. Let us help others to reach the destination too.”

He said, “The moral lesson of my story is that with the right leadership even a poor child like me could be educated and become anything he or she wants, without education, I may not be what I am today”.

Sen. Odebiyi believes that in years to come these indigent but highly skilled and knowledgeable students enjoying his scholarship today will contribute to building a more prosperous and egalitarian society.

Sen. Odebiyi has the singular privilege of being the very first Senator who has more than ten (10) Bills to his credit in high impact educational areas focusing on creating institutions that will provide academic and vocational training in his Senatorial District. One of the Bills is awaiting Presidential assent while others have scaled various legislative stages on the floor of the Red Chamber.

He feels that funding education is by far the highest and smartest investment intervention you can make that will yield greater and longer lasting benefits for any youth.

It is also refreshing to note that five of his Tolu Odebiyi Scholarship Foundation beneficiaries have successfully demonstrated their academic excellence by completing their undergraduate studies in various public tertiary institutions and are serving their fatherland under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) one year mandatory programme.

This is a testament that the scholarship awards are yielding positive results as hope keep rising for students in Ogun West Senatorial District.

On his recent 58th birthday on the 14th of November 2021, the people of Ogun West, all Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his colleagues at the National Assembly, Tolu Odebiyi Scholarship awardees, all his staff and other well wishers wish him many happy returns and pray that God will continue to enrich him to do much more for humanity as well as give him the grace to serve further in good health.