Professor Grace Anuoluwapo Adejuwon, the 4th child of Reverend Simeon Babafunmilayo and Mrs Christianah Dolapo Ajetunmobi, (both late), was born on Sunday January 6, 1952. Though, she was not born with a silver spoon, her parents were comfortable and educated and would not give her option to education. She was born and raised in a vicarage alongside her siblings, late Esther Wuraola, Mrs Hope Oreoluwa Oyewole, Mr S. O. Ajetunmobi, Mrs Ayo Ayanwale, and Engr. Pastor Yomi Ajetunmobi, being children of a clergyman. She weathered all the storms of her life because, according to her, she held on tenaciously to Jesus Christ, particularly, ever since she was led to Christ on February 23, 1972, by her cousin, Mr Bola Sanni. A very principled, disciplined, focused, determined and strong woman, Grace Adejuwon does not suffer a fool gladly and will hold anyone responsible for his or her action, particularly, when it is an action consciously chosen. One of her first casualties was the first man who sought her hands in marriage. The day she caught him in bed with a girl, she called the relationship off. According to her, “I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t ruffled. From the library, I went to his house and I met a girl sitting on his bed, the bed I, myself have never sat. I just sat on the chair, slot a cassette into a stereo, listened to it and when I was done, I left. He kept coming until the day I served him with my wedding invitation card. Case closed”. The baby Grace of January 6, 1952, now an educationist, who taught at all levels of education, nursery and primary school, secondary school and university, turns 70 today, January 6, 2022, and takes a bow from the Department of Psychology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan (UI). She spoke with GBENRO ADESINA about her life, family and career, as she decried the rots in the Nigerian educational system:
Q: At 70, how do you feel?
A: I feel excited. I feel happy. It looks like something great has happened to me. I feel very grateful to God for keeping me alive. 70 years, that is a lot. I feel so grateful to God for being alive. I am excited that I am 70. I am grateful to God. I am happy and I give glory to God.
Q: How has the journey of life been?
A: The journey of life has not been smooth at all, but God created us with destinies and once we work with Him, He will make sure He removes all the crooked places, made them straight and ensure the person trusting in Him is never put to shame and the life is not cut short. God has been my focus since I was small and that has made a difference in my life. My focus has been to be a child of God completely, to have Christian character and to fear God in everything and to depend on Him, and to rely on the Word of God, which is true and comes to pass. For me, through this journey of life, considering what I was exposed to when I was younger, if I had not given my life to Christ, I think I would have died and I think something terrible would have happened to me. So, it wasn’t easy as a child. Like I said and wrote in my inaugural lecture, it was not easy at all because last year marked 60 years that my father died. He died in 1961. So, I wasn’t up to 10 years. I was just nine years plus. My father’s death changed many things for us, but because we were taught to know God, to follow Him, we kept on. We were six: Myself, my late sister, Esther Wuraola, Mrs Hope Oreoluwa Oyewole, Mr. S. O. Ajetunmobi, Mrs Ayo Ayanwale, Engr Pastor Yomi Ajetunmobi. Today we are five. Our first born, Sister Esther Wuraola died. It has not been easy because in Yoruba land, or African setting, once your husband dies and you become a widow, you are vulnerable. The society will want to will you to another man. My mother refused to be owned by another man. She refused to be seconded to another man for another round of raising new children. As a result of this decision, my father’s family members, whose decision to will her for another man in the family was rejected, withdrew supports from my mother. So, there was no support, but God supported her and saw her through. Right now, the way I see my mum in my mind, I see her as a genius that lived beyond her time.
Q: Your father’s family members wanted to second your mum to another man?
A: Yes. When somebody dies, the men will line up for the purpose of inheriting the widow a deceased left behind. Somebody came to her and asked her to marry him. She said no. She said that she would not allow anybody to second her to another person. So, the extended family let her go and said that they would see how my mother would single-handedly raise her children and manage herself. So, if she doesn’t want to be seconded, let her go with her children. That was the beginning of her making sure that we all went to school and she did everything humanly and spiritually possible to ensure that we were well taken care of. And we never went back to ask for anything from anybody, except myself, who was sent back to my father’s family for secondary education.
Q: How did she manage to train you in school?
A: My father was a pastor, so we lived our early lives in church premises. My mum was an entrepreneur. As at the time we were younger, she was into bakery business. She was baking bread. We had an oven and she baked bread from time to time for sale. She was also selling jewelry. She was also a seamstress with eight or nine sewing machines and she was also into textile. She wanted her jewelry to be unique, so, she would draw the pattern she wanted and gave it to the goldsmith to make for her. When my father died, we had to come back to the village. Nobody eats bread in the village. Nobody buys jewelry in the village. They bought some of the things she brought and they didn’t pay. She needed to start paying my elder brother’s school fees almost immediately. In fact, when the ceremony was going on, she paid the £10 deposit for his admission. She was advised to delay my brother’s admission for a year because of money but she said no. She said since he has been offered admission, he should be allowed to go to school. She paid the school fees immediately. After that, all her businesses went down. We did many things. I was the one hawking everything. I will put the wares on my head and be going from village to village to sell. When we were in the village, we had other villages around, so, I would go to the nearby villages and come back with little or no sale. So, we moved from our village, Ilowa to Obokun, a bigger town and then she started making “akara” (bean cake) and I was the one efficiently hawking the “akara”. From the business of “akara”, she was able to pay my brother’s school fees and she was equally able to afford putting him in the boarding school and he did very well. He performed very well. The thing is that she started with “akara” and because she was extremely prudent, she finally started selling beans in bags. She would travel to Kano to buy bags of beans and sell. She was able to save money from the sale of “akara”, which she used to start beans business.
Q: What did you learn from your mother?
A: I learnt many things from her. I learnt to be honest. I learnt to put my best in anything I am doing. I learnt not to depend on people. You know, men were coming for her because she was a widow. When we left our village, some men will come. Though, I was small, I witnessed a scene one evening, when she sent one of them away in our presence. She warned the man seriously that he should never come to our house again and that if the man did not leave immediately, she would deal with him. We were making soda (soap) that evening. She looked up, saw the man standing and asked, “man, what are you doing in my house”? She then told the man that she used to see his children wandering about naked. She added that if it is not because her husband died, this your type shouldn’t come near me at all. “And I have warned you not to come to my house again. As I am looking at you, if you don’t go now, you see this soda, I will use it to bath you”. The man turned and ran away and we never saw him again. So, she was very committed to taking care of us and we also do the same to our children. She read her bible and prayed. Whenever we were sick, she would pray. Whenever she needed something, she would pray. I learnt to be strong from her. She was very strong. She never accepted defeat. At the time my father died, she was still menstruating. My father died at 49. We have never seen her as a weak person or somebody who gives up. She could buy a cheap material but when she sews it for us, people would be admiring the cloth she made out of the material because she would sew very good design. That is why in my mind, till today, the picture of my mum that I have is that of a genius. In her father’s family, she was the only one that went to school. She sent herself to school. She stopped in Standard three.
Q: Were you able to pick anything from your father despite the fact that the time you had with him was very short?
A: My father was a family person. He taught me how to write letter in primary two. I will use slate and chalk. He was very homely. He was always there, very kind, but was a disciplinarian. He would give you warning if you make a mistake, after the third time, he would beat you.
Q: What are the challenges of the children of the clergy?
A: Then and now, when a clergyman lives a double life, it will affect the children. Double identity. His life on the pulpit, who he is in the church and to church members is different from who he is at home. That confusion normally misleads the children of the clergy. But where you have the same picture, the same impression, the same man at home, in church, everywhere, then you will have no choice than to follow because there is no confusion. For instance, I am 70 today, I don’t have a record of when my parents raised their voices against each other, or fought or argued such that children got to know. I have actually tried to remember if there was any time they fought or had a strong argument, or shout at each other. I don’t have that record in my head. They lived an exemplary life that helped us to just believe in what they were doing. We, their children, have never deviated from what our parents taught us.
Q: Due to your father’s early death, could you remember untold hardship this incident subjected you to?
A: My mum was hardworking. So, there was no time, she couldn’t afford rent. But when I left her to start secondary school, I had a problem. Although there was accommodation, my sponsor who rented the apartment was transferred to a school in another town just as I was to arrive. He was in good term with the landlord of the house as they were very close friends. I was to stay in that house after my sponsor left the house to his new station. The first night in that house was horrible. I didn’t bring mat when I came to him because nobody told me to do so. When it was night, I was looking around and the wife of the landlord, who was a distant relation asked where I would stay. She said there was no vacant room, that I should sleep in the corridor. I said okay. I was already a teenager. Then I was looking at her. She then asked, you didn’t bring mat? I replied no and she brought “eni ore”, the mat that is like strings, that is put together. That mat was very tattered and I had never seen such mat in my life. I took it from her and spread it. When I lied down, part of my body was touching the floor, but I slept like that for about three days. That was horrifying for me because I was coming from a proper home, where one sleeps properly. So, to just suddenly experience sleeping on the floor with tattered mat, with my body touching the floor, is unimaginable. You know the floor will be cold, I rolled around before sleep came. That experience was short-lived because the landlord’s daughter also came in to start secondary school. They made a room available for her and we started sharing the room. They provided a proper bed and all that.
Q: Let us look at your education, which primary school did you attend?
A: I went to many primary schools. I started from LA School One, Esa-Oke. Afterward, I went to Utagba Ogbe in Delta State., That time, I was staying with my sister, who was a nurse in General Hospital, Kwale. I left that school when my dad died and came back to Kiloru School in Ilowa. When we got to Ibokun, I attended Nawarudeen Primary School for a short time and then finally, I wrote my primary school exam in St Peter Primary School, Ibokun in 1962. I started secondary school in 1966 and I finished in 1970.
Q: Ma, you finished your primary school in 1962 and started secondary school in 1966. Could you account for 1963-1965?
A: From 1963-1963, I was with my mum. We moved to Ibokun to start another business for our school fees. But because she could only afford a person’s school fees at a time, I waited for my turn. So, I attended same secondary school with my brother, who finished with distinction in 1966. He was in final year when I entered secondary school in 1966. The school calendar was January-December.
Q: Were you an Arts or Science student in secondary school?
A: I was a science student.
Q: What informed your choice of Science?
A: I was brilliant, so the teachers went for those of us who were good because science was just starting in our school, Methodist High School, Ilesa.
Q: As a science student in secondary school, did you aspire to read Medicine?
A: I never wanted to be a medical doctor. I wanted to be a Pharmacist. This is because my dad always treat church children in our house. They normally come to our house every morning. My father will dress their wounds for them. I just loved that.
Q: What changed that?
A: I didn’t have credit in Physics because our Physics teacher in secondary school told us not to include Physics in our choice of subjects. He told us that what he taught us was not good enough and because we were not well taught, if we sit for it in the exam, we will fail. That was a big set back because if I had tried it, I would have passed. I was good in Chemistry and Biology but I didn’t have Physics because our Physics teacher did not allow us to write physics in WAEC. That was the beginning of when everything went wrong. So, I settled for Chemistry.
Q: Did it come from your mind?
A: Yes, I loved my Chemistry teacher.
Q: So, it is correct to say that your Chemistry teacher influenced you to study Chemistry in the university?
A: Yes. She taught us so well. She had a passion for that. She also added something extra to her teaching. You know in those days, girls will come to school with big breast and they will not wear bra. She would take them to Oja Oba in Ilesa. She would select those girls in the assembly and tell them to bring money to school. She would accompany them to the market, help them to select bra, according to their sizes, teach them how to put it on. I like that. I was not part of them because I was small, but I was watching as she was doing that and I loved it. In those days, the senior girls wore beads around their waist and, whenever they were running, the beads would be making romantic and sexual sounds. One morning, after assembly, she sent all the boys away, took them to a classroom. She said we should close the widows. She brought out her scissors and cut off all the beads and we, the small girls, were the ones packing. We packed like three buckets of beads that morning. The lady was just very good.
Q: So, you read Chemistry in University of Ibadan?
A: Yes, I read Chemistry/Botany and Education. After my graduation, I did my youth service in Government College and got employment with the Oyo State Civil Service Commission. I was posted to the Ministry of Education and then the Ministry posted me to Queen’s School, Apata, Ibadan and that was where I started my career as a teacher.
Q: How much was your first salary?
A: The salary was very small but it was okay. It was N1:58k. That was a lot of money then and it had a lot of value. In value, it is worth like N250,000 of today. As at that time, one can do a lot with that money. We were comfortable with our salaries. Things were cheap. For instance, in 1982, there was a promo. Some of us went for that promo and used it to go abroad: London, Rome, Italy, etc. One naira was one British pound, a dollar was 50k. Naira and pound were equivalent.
Q: What were some of your memorable events as a teacher in the secondary school?
A: Any time I conduct the final year practical exam, I am always very excited because when I am going around, I see my student doing well. The teachers would have done the titration before the exam starts. We would have sent our own end point or the outcome to WAEC. So, when I move round and I see my students getting the same thing that I got, always, I am excited. Usually, when the result comes out, it gives me joy. The joy I derived most is that my students are performing well in their exams. We also do mock exam and when I set exam for Chemistry, the exam questions I set for them often come out in WAEC. That gives me a lot of excitement and joy. I derive joy when my students perform very well in exam. I get excited and fulfilled.
Q: At what point did you exit teaching in secondary school?
A: That was 1995. I retired from the Oyo State Ministry of Education in 1995. I retired as a deputy director.
Q: You retired at 43, that was quite early?
A: I was not just fulfilled. I was a local inspector of education. What I was seeing there was actually very disturbing to me. I looked at the future of those children and then I didn’t see any future if they continue that way. Secondly, I didn’t have the power to change the horrible situation in public schools. I didn’t have any power to effect any change at that level. And then I was tired of routine. Doing the same thing always is not challenging and fulfilling. I felt I wasn’t getting satisfaction from the job anymore.
Q: So, what did you do?
A: I retired and then I took a job with a nursery and primary school as a director of school. My mates were wondering what went wrong. I just wanted to leave.
Q: At what point did you consider going back to the university to study Psychology and why did you not continue with Chemistry, your first love?
A: One day in that nursery and primary school, we were on break. When children are on break, as the director of school, I was always with them to ensure that the children will not injure themselves and all that. I just heard an audible voice that your time is up in this school. I looked around, I didn’t see anybody. I went to my office immediately and knelt down and prayed and asked is it you? If my time is up, what should I do? He (God) ordered me to go back to school. He said that I have already influenced the parents in this school. He said that he wanted me to go and influence parents in the world. That was too big for me. I was confused and then I asked him how to go about it. I got home and discussed with my husband. He picked up the Master’s form for me. I thought I should continue with my Chemistry. I wanted to do Analytical Chemistry, but you see at that time, I was already over 40 and I have five children. In fact, some of my children were undergraduates. So, I went to Chemistry Department, I looked at the laboratory, it was almost empty. I knew if I wanted to do a Master in Chemistry, then I needed nothing less than N.5million to do that, which I did not have. I thought I could do part-time so that my study would not disturb my work. The professor I met there told me, “Madam, there is no part-time here and I hope you have your own personal money to run this course as you can see things have changed”. So, I went back to the drawing board, to pray again, asking what next I should do. I remembered that I used to read a magazine, Psychology Today, when I was working in University of Ife (UNIFE) now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). I used to buy that booklet. That was my first contact with Psychology Today. It just popped up in my mind again. What about Psychology? I asked around. I went back the following year to collect the form. Fortunately, I was offered admission, though, I didn’t have Psychology as first degree. I think we were just two or three that were offered admission that year. That was how I got into Psychology in 1997.
Q: So, after Master, you moved on to PhD?
A: That was the very motive of doing a Master at all. The very motive of coming for Master was to do PhD and to be a lecturer.
Q: You became a lecturer at what age?
A: Year 2000 at 48.
Q: Considering the age you moved into the academic, did it occur to you that you can get to the peak of that career?
A: I used to do the calculation. I used to sit down and do calculation that promotion is every three years. I learnt that every three years, if you are qualified and have sufficient papers, you will be promoted. So, I started working towards ensuring that I have enough papers for each of them. I was doing the calculation. I would write every three years the numbers of papers that I needed to write and that I must have before the next promotion. I was writing them. I was really working day and night for everything to go on well. I was just hopeful that all will be fine. And I prayed consistently about it. When I was leaving the Ministry, I was a promising officer too. My colleagues were surprised that I was leaving because I taught some of their children in Queen’s school. They said, “Mrs Adejuwon, you can’t be leaving now. You are one of our promising officers and we know you will get to the peak of your career by becoming Commissioner for Education and all that”. My prayer when I became a lecturer was, “God, I missed getting to the peak of my career in the Ministry of Education, don’t let me miss this one again”. I prayed that prayer.
Q: At what age did you become a professor?
A: That was 2014. I was born 1952. I was 62 years old when I became a professor.
Q: You never missed any promotion?
A: Ha! God never allowed me to miss any of my promotion. All were as a result of grace and mercy.
Q: At what point did your husband come for you?
A: I met him while I was working as an account clerk in the Bursary Department of the University of Ife. I was in that department between 1971 to 1973. Many students were on scholarships. That was when we met. Then, I wasn’t interested in a relationship. I wanted to be a university student too. My elder brother always tells me that I must go to the university, advising me not to follow university guys so that they would not impregnate me, but I should join them on campus as a student. One thing that has helped me is that I am an obedient person and I follow simple instructions. I got married in my second year in the university.
Q: What was the point of attraction. What made you like him?
A: It is now that men propose. During our time, men don’t propose. That time a boy will just go to a girl and say be my girlfriend or something like that.
Q: That was dry?
A: (Laughter). As he finished talking, it just occurred to me that this is my husband. There wasn’t any physical attraction but I heard it in my mind that this is your husband. It was a strong impression in my mind that this is my husband. I kept quiet. I didn’t say anything to him, but I knew. I was watching the development. Afterward, I went to Federal School of Science in Lagos to do my A Level and he continued his studies in Ife. Then I gained admission. I didn’t complete that A Level because I and one of my colleagues found out that our teachers made some mistakes. They didn’t follow the curriculum, so both of us or those of us who knew that we have left many things undone and that we may not pass A Level, encouraged ourselves to write concessional exam, pass and leave immediately. So, we put so much effort. UI exam was one of the most difficult at that time because the question that we met in the exam were the things we did at first year A Level. It was above school certificate. So, the relationship continued. He graduated from Ife and before I resumed for the second year, he had finished his youth service and then we got married. I continued with my study.
Q: Before him, was there any man?
A: Yes. There was one I would have married, but he was much older just like my husband was much older. He wasn’t sincere. I wanted to be a graduate. I couldn’t marry with school certificate. At that time, I talked to myself that there was no way I could marry with school certificate and he wanted to marry. I asked him, “Are you going to wait for me because I want to go to the university?” He said he doesn’t mind. One day, I went to his house and met him and another girl on the bed. Me, I had never sat on his bed. I went to my usual chair, slot in a cassette into a stereo. I got there tired because I went there from the library. I played the music and relaxed and I left them there. Something just told me that this is what this man will be doing if he eventually marries me. So, I didn’t fight, I didn’t say anything and I wasn’t even ruffled because I believed that it was God that has made me to come at that time so that I would see for myself. God did not want a story that will be narrated to me, He wanted me to see for myself and I saw. I just made up my mind and that was it. He kept coming until I gave him a wedding invitation card.
Q: So, you gave him a red card, Prof.
A: Yes o!
Q: How are the children fearing?
A: We thank God. Two of my children finished from Queen’s School too. They are all graduates.
Q: What is your advice to the younger generation. What is your assessment of university education and what is your assessment of education generally in Nigeria?
A: Hum! Let me start from education generally in Nigeria. From nursery school to the end of secondary school, that is where we have the greatest problem. Parents of today take their one-month-old babies to daycares and by the time these children are two years old, some teachers are holding the hands of these children to write 1,2,3, that means nothing to the children. We now pride ourselves with our children are eight years old and have passed common entrance exam. For goodness sake, that is very destructive. It is setting a bad future, a bad foundation for these children. Yes, the children may be brilliant, but we can’t buy maturity and that is the root cause of drug addiction and maladjusted behaviour today, because we send immature children to secondary school. Children who cannot assert themselves. Children who should still be playing with sand, we put them in secondary schools. Not only that, we also put them in the Boarding school. I think a lot of things have gone wrong with parenting. Some parents of today are not ready to be who they really are to those children. Some parents think that they can buy teachers as parents by sending their children to the schools where school fees are paid in dollars or the schools are running American curriculum. That is nonsense. It doesn’t have any meaning because the teachers in those school where you pay N3m per term, they are working for their income and then they are not parents to your children. The parental duties have been neglected today. And what is taking over? The media. The parents will give these children phones and will not put the parental control. So, the children just go haywire to the entire world, free, collecting all sort of information that they are not equip intellectually and cognitively to process. So, there is undue exposure, parental neglect. Now, it is even more chaotic because some of those who are parents now didn’t also have good parenting and they have also become parents now. So, you can’t give what you don’t have. Another terrible thing that I have seen is that we have imported western culture of individualism and mixed it with our own culture of collectivism. It is not working. The mixture is producing confusion. Things have gone a lot wrong from the nursery to secondary school. There was a time, I had the opportunity of inspecting WAEC exam in many centres in a state. I was very sorry for our country. I was very sorry because there was no single school that did not cheat that year and I went round over 50 schools. There was no school that did not cheat in that state. I got to a school around 30 minutes to the time that WAEC stipulated that the paper should end. I met the supervisor by the roadside. The door of the examination hall has been locked. I only saw one student leaving the premises. I asked the supervisor, which paper is this and he told me. I said, oh! You have finished. He said yes. As I have marked WAEC practical for many years, I knew those questions were standard questions. So, how come they finished so fast? They finished two hours paper in one hour because their teachers supplied them with answers. They just copied the answers given to them and submitted. Today, it is only in very few schools that we have that integrity of preparing students for exam and not cheating. Only in few schools. In most schools, the exam is written for them and that sets a very bad foundation for the children. When I was a Local Inspector of Education, I was conducting primary six exam and JSS junior exams. It is quite sad that in primary six, pupils are already cheating. Their teachers are cheating for them. Children in JSS 3 cheat seriously. I caught one with printed answers. The paper did not leak because I personally collected the questions from the Ministry. So, somebody has sold rubbish to them. I caught some of them writing on their bodies. Very disgusting. Teachers assist in the cheating. It is very terrible. That is why University of Ibadan is standing out today because you can’t buy certificate in UI. It is not possible. I met a graduate some time ago. We boarded the same commercial vehicle. He was offered admission in UI. He told me that all his life, he has been cheating in exams but in UI, he could not cheat. He was afraid. He knew that if he continues in UI, there was no way he would be a graduate. So, he went to rewrite JAMB without telling his parents and went to another university. He left UI. He told me himself. The time I met him, he was already undertaking youth service. He went to another university where cheating was easy. That is why the rigorous admission process in UI is seriously applauded. I like it so much because UI choose the best of the best. Otherwise, UI will end up selecting those that have been cheating from nursery school and then, they want to continue in the university. So, our primary/secondary education needs serious overhauling and unfortunately, I don’t know how we can do that. Currently, in some secondary schools, they offer certain subject which are not useful at the university level. Those subjects are easy to pass but they are not part of the admission requirement for any course at the university level. There is also a problem with smooth transition from secondary school to the university for some secondary schools. Recently, we were talking about bullying in secondary schools. I organized a seminar to address it. It is unfortunate to say that bullying has been in existence for a long time. Now, it has become a serious issue because it now involves life taking. This is taking a deadly dimension because those who have the finance to establish schools may not have passion for the children. So, once you don’t have passion for children, you will not follow them. Many things will be going wrong in the school without the knowledge of the school owner. So, the focus of establishing school is also one of the problems. If the focus is to make money, then, the school is not going to offer anything good and the school will not also add any value to the character of the children passing through it. So, character development is a problem in Nigeria. From family to school, to church, everywhere, character development is a problem in our country. So, I will suggest to parents if you decide to have children, be ready to fulfil parental responsibilities. It should be spelt out that it is not compulsory to have children. It is only in Africa, in our culture that during marriage ceremony, 99.999 percent of the prayers is that you will have children. The question is that do you love children? Do you have what it takes to follow them up and make sure they have good character, are God fearing, and are matured for the classes? Do you have the passion to follow them to the classes to find out what is going on? Do you have interest in finding out who their friends are? Then, you as a parent, are you a good example? The children are copying the parents. Are you a good example too? Are you conscious that you are the first teacher and they are learning from you? So, anybody who is planning to get married, one of the most important considerations is, do I have what it takes to be a parent? If you don’t have, then don’t bring children to the world and ruin their lives because you don’t have anything to give them. You know, in this generation, people pursue career. There is nothing wrong in people pursuing career, but it is wrong when there is no balance. The father is somewhere, the mother is in another place, and both of them are not putting in their best. They are not carrying their children along. Media will take them away. All these bad children will take them away. For those who want to put their children in boarding schools, you should know as a parent if this child is a boarding school material or this child should just stay at home and you take the child to school and bring him back every day. That is what the child can cope with. If a child is a type that loves to be at home with you, and a decision is made to send that particular child to boarding school, the life of that child is already beginning to be a waste because the child does not have what it takes to cope with life in the boarding school. It is not compulsory to have children we can’t properly raise. Today, large percentage of our teenagers are drug addicts. Ritual killing is now in large numbers. It is so terrible that the lives of human beings do not matter again because we want money. We celebrate big money without finding out the source of that money. That wasn’t our cultural value before. It is not our cultural value that our child will bring a car to the house without explaining how he came about it. Some parents don’t even know what their children are doing and they are happy seeing their children doing great things. When our values still matter, if a child brings a car to the house, the father will come out and ask, what is this – a gift or something? The father will not enter the car until the child explains how he got the car. That was our value. But that value is lost now. So, there is a lot of overhauling needed in our foundation, in nursery, primary and secondary schools. These are the foundations for the university education. If the foundation is defective, we can’t build anything on it. So, the universities are handling the products they get from all these cheating schools. Some children cheated from primary schools, through JAMB and to the university. Has such child learnt how to read and how to study to pass? It is a complex mix of things.
Q: Now that you have taken a bow from active service, what do you intend to be engaged in for the next 70 years?
A: (Laughs). If Jesus tarries. Well, I am aware that I have a lot to give back to the society. I am going to continue giving. That is why I started an NGO in 2014. I have been running it on my own. Using my personal money. The name of the NGO is Profamily-Care Foundation. It is properly registered with CAC. My focus for now has been with the “Alabarus” (load carriers) in Bodija Market, in Ibadan. In Bodija Market, we have different categories of Alabarus. We have the women, the girls, the boys and the children. I have been working with them for sometime now. Currently, I was able to rescue two children from Bodija Market. One was three years old, one was a day old. The mother was also under that programme. She has mental health problem. In Bodija Market, some of those Alabarus pay N50 to sleep in the market. Some of them are homeless, especially the young ones. I have educational package for them. I have an orphan that is completing his first degree now under that programme. I also have somebody who is completing her Master’s programme from the foundation. Those two children are in school. They have been sustained and I have been able to pull out the mother from the market and provide accommodation for her in town. Through our frequent visits, counselling and psychosocial support, the lives of some of these people have turned around. I have been able to settle some of them out of Alabaru job. Some of them acquired new skills and started business on their own and left the market. I intend to continue that. Also, I will soon be running series on social media regarding some critical issues. We will be talking about partner selection. It is a serious issue that we need so talk about. Partner selection for those who wants to get married, coping with crisis within marriage and parenting. We are going to be running trainings on parenting skills. Profamily-Care Foundation also has outreach programmes to schools. We have formed “Excellent Clubs” for the purpose of developing Leadership skills and good character. We also have enlightenment programmes for drug use among adolescents. Currently, we have clubs in 30 secondary schools. I will now have the time to follow up the clubs after retirement. There are so many things to do because the needs are many. I have put in over 40 years interacting with other people’s children and I know a lot already, which I should give out before I die.
