Christopher Oji
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr.(Mrs) Idiat Oluranti Adebule, has urged Nigerians to change their notion that all policemen are corrupt.
The deputy governor who was speaking at the weekend during the donation of a 500-seater multi-purpose hall to Lagos State Model College ,Ojo, Lagos, by Chinese Youth Association ( CYA) in honour of ACP Akinbayo Olasoji, said the international community was able to build the modern hall in honour of the senior police officer because he was not corrupt.
Dr Adebule who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in charge of the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM ), Mrs. Olatokunboh Adeleye, said if ACP Olasoji was corrupt, he would have asked the Chinese people to convert the building to his personal own or pocketed the money.
Olusoji is an old student of the college.
At the official handing over and commissioning of the building , Mrs. Olatokunboh Adeleye, while appreciating the association, expressed the belief that the donation was in tandem with the “association’s vision of supporting our schools in the spirit of Corporate Social Responsibility.”
In a speech read on her behalf, the deputy governor noted that the newly-constructed multi-purpose hall would create “an enabling environment that will help secure our children’s dignity and safety while also ensuring a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning” stressing that the Chinese Youths Association had chosen “a very important sector to touch and impact lives in this school.”
She emphasised further that, “children are our future and the leaders of tomorrow. As a result, the way to ensure quality, effective and functional education for them is to continue to create conducive environment for learning and teaching as well as providing better infrastructure for them.”
Doctor Adebule who coordinates the activities of the state’s Ministry of Education in addition to her duties as deputy governor clearly stated that “today’s commissioning and presentation of this multi-purpose hall by the Chinese Youths Association is a clear demonstration of the support for our programmes and vision in the education sector.”
The deputy governor, while appreciating the CYA and the old students association of the college for the synergy in making the dream a reality, assured that the government of Lagos State “would continue to partner all stakeholders committed to the education and development of our children.”
The gesture which was more of a CSR is a way of further strengthening the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China.
Speaking on behalf of the donors, Mr. Jack Zhou, who is the secretary of CYA said members of the association who are doing different businesses in Nigeria were moved by the need to assist in developing Nigeria in whatever capacity they could. He added that they had found Olasoji who is the Area Commander in Charge of Area D, Mushin of the Lagos State Police Command as a worthy Nigerian through whom such development could be extended to people hence they approached him.
The area commander who stood taller than others on the occasion, as the event was in his honour, said in his brief speech that he was admitted into the college in September 1982 at the old permanent site which was later taken over by Government as the take-off location at the Lagos State University, Ojo. Upon graduation from the college with his mates in 1987, he went for further studies after which he enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force.
According to him, his first encounter with the Chinese as a police officer was when he was serving as the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ikeja Division. He narrated how his men had arrested some Chinese who went out for night event driving while already drunk. Their “arrest” was ostensibly to protect them from any danger from criminals who might take advantage of their state of drunkenness.
The ACP said that they were allowed to go freely the next day when they had regained consciousness and over time the news of his policing with human face began to spread among the Chinese community in Lagos who understandably had searched the internet to get more information about him.
Olusoji pointed out that one of his outstanding achievements that time was the arrest of some die-hard criminals who offered him a bribe of N21million which was turned down.
This singular achievement and other break-through unknowingly endeared him to the police authorities, thereby necessitating his promotion to the rank of ACP and subsequent deployment to head Area D at Mushin which is considered as one of the area commands facing the hardest criminal challenges in the state.
The Chinese nationals who over time had found some credibility in Olusoji with regard to his activities as a police officer, could not resist seeking his cooperation as they wanted a crime-free environment for their businesses.
According to Olasoji, it was in appreciation of his dedication to duty that the leadership of CYA approached him, seeking to know what they could do for him as a person. Rather than ask for something that would benefit only him and his family, he opted to align with the aspiration of his old students’ association of 1987 set which had the intention to build a multi-purpose hall. So he could not hesitate to urge the seemingly benevolent Chinese to build a hall for his alma mater which was in dire need of such.
The immediate past principal of the College, Mrs. Olufumilayo, Modupe Adenekan, who was full of praises for Olusoji and the Chinese Youths Association, recalled how the police officer in company of some officials of the old students association of the college had approached her in early 2018 to intimate her of the intention to build a hall for the college.
She narrated how she almost dismissed them as unserious minded people with the contention that the old students were fond of coming to ask for what to do for the school only to end up doing nothing. Luckily, she gave a listening ear to Olusoji and his colleagues and subsequently the Chinese were introduced as people who were set to embark on the project. It was this clarification according to her, that necessitated the request for ministerial approval to enable the project to commence.