By Rotimi Phillip Odofin.
The old glory of Yagba land as the bedrock of educational development in the Old Kabba Province is gradually returning back to limelight with the giant strides of Honourable Leke Abejide’s cognisance contributions and support for the basic level of education in his constituency .
His continued payment of the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination fees (SSCE) for students in the three local government areas along with provisions of other laudable materials are fast becoming the major standard measure for the advancement of education standard in Yagba land.
Hon Leke Abejide, member representing Yagba federal constituency in the House of Representatives, commitment to provision of quality education for his constituents recently received another milestone boost with the disbursement of the 4th phase of his annual payment of WAEC fees for senior secondary school students in his federal constituency.
Under the Leke Abejide Educational Foundation, he has again kept to his commitment of lifting the burden of payments of WAEC fees for secondary students throughout Yagba Federal Constituency by flagging off the 4th phase of WAEC payment and distribution of textbooks to primary and secondary school students.
The presentation of the WAEC bank draft and distribution of textbooks to all the schools in the three Local Government Areas signify another major milestone in Hon Leke’s desire to ensure significant advancing quality education for his people.
The Leke Abejide Foundation is a non-governmental organisation, with the aims and objectives of reaching out to the less privileged and raising the bars of education in the area.
The week long annual event which kick started in Mopamuro Local Government Area of Kogi state, with the beneficiary students drawn from across all the secondary schools in the council area, was held at the Cruise Memorial College Mopa and came to climax with the grand finally at Isanlu, headquarters of Yagba East Local Government Area.
Chief Shola Adebola, the Director-General of the Foundation was on ground and took charge of the event.
In his remarks at the flag off, Chief Adebola took time to appreciate the sole sponsor of the Foundation, Hon. Leke Joseph Abejide, the Member House of Representatives Yagba Federal Constituency, for his support and for financing the 4th WAEC payment across Yagba Land.
The D.G who gladly disclosed that Hon. Leke Abejide has been invariant about the payment every year and has never failed at any point recalled the great relieved for the parents of the students adding that the payment is yet again being carried out despite the fact that the WAEC fees for the year 2022 has increased from the eexamination board.
“Our Honourable has made us proud, no wonder he won the award of the best legislator in Kogi state from the Kogi online Media Awards based on his antecedents,” he said.
According to him, despite that WAEC has increased her fees, Hon. Abejide has never deferred his promise to pay, including the administrative charges.
Addressing the parents, the DG revealed that Hon. Abejide has equally provided textbooks to school pupils from Primary 1-6 and Secondary school students from JSS 1-3 total of three thousand three hundred (3,300) to Mopamuro Local Government Area alone.
In their appreciation message, the representative of Mopamuro Traditional Council, the Adetula of Ilai, Oba Samuel Ibilaye, applauded the giant strides of Hon. Abejide echoing on how he is touching critical areas.
He noted that, “Hon. Abejide is making progress as regards education. This is the right step in the right direction and we are proud of him.”
He equally appealed to parents to help monitor the students while encouraging the students to study and pray.
Some of the parents and guardians who were present at the event joyfully commended Hon. Abejide saying he has helped to shape the future of the young minds who would have been school dropouts.
The event came to its peak when the bank drafts were presented to all the school principals, as several parents of the beneficiaries praised Hon. Abejide for sticking to his promises for the good people of Yagba.
At the grand finale, WAEC bank drafts and textbooks worth 20Million Naira were presented to schools across Yagba.
The House of Representatives member, Hon Leke Abejide admonished the students before handling over the educational materials to the relevant authorities saying
“As a representative of the people, I will not rest in providing solutions to the needs of my constituency throughout my tenure in office,” he assured.
He assured that more roads will be constructed across Yagba land because people are facing a lot of challenges on the roads, promising that rural roads will receive adequate attention.
Abejide said his constituents deserve the best, having enjoyed their unflinching support in his political sojourn.
The Rep member disclosed that he will not be contesting for the Senate and has not anointed any candidate.
He advised others contesting for political offices to demonstrate capacity by showing the people what they can do before getting to office.
He advised that the people should desist from insulting other politicians and political officeholders, stating that some of his programs are based on his love for the people and his act of giving.
“I love giving because God has blessed me before attaining this office,” he said.
Abejide charged other politicians to take up the challenge and reach out to the people.
Hon. Leke Abejide handed over the textbooks to the Yagba East Education Secretary, a total of five thousand textbooks (5000), to initiate the campaign of two textbooks to one child as he handed it over to the Secretary alongside the Agbana of Isanlu HRH, Oba Moses Etombi, the chairman Yagba East Traditional Council.
Hon. Abejide advised that the books be numbered and distributed to all public schools in Yagba, the overall total number of books handed over to the three Local Government of Yagba Federal Constituency was over 15,000 textbooks for basic science and computer science.
The peak of the annual event was the heartwarming but emotional display by parents, guardians and teachers of the benefiting students as they could not hold their joy and gratitude to the humanitarian Legislator per excellent Hon. Leke Abejide
