Oyo Lawmaker, Arole Empowers Constituents As 135 Undergraduates Were Placed On Scholarship

The lawmaker representing Oyo East/West at the state House of Assembly, Honourable Isiaka Kazeem popularly known as ‘Arole’ has placed no fewer than 135 young members of his constituency on an undergraduate scholarship at SAF Polytechnic, Iseyin.

The students who were drawn from different wards and communities within Oyo East and West will according to Hon. Arole be taking different undergraduate programmes ranging from Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts, and Engineering courses at the Polytechnic.

The Oyo born lawmaker said his commitment towards human capital development as against giving out empowerment items such as barber clippers, grinding machines, motorcycles and others stems from the reality of the modern digital world in the face of human suitability for employment opportunities.

Speaking with news men in Ibadan on Friday Feb. 4, Hon. Kazeem said the scholarship programme covers the entire Ordinary National Diploma of two years adding that his office has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Polytechnic on the financial implications for the entire 135 students.

Speaking on the idea behind the scholarship, the lawmaker said the era of ‘amala and gbegiri politics are long gone saying “what obtains now is high-tech politics where politicians must provide sustainable empowerments for the people who elected them into public office. That’s the only way to remain relevant as a politician now.”

“What we are doing is to develop our youths especially in their education because majority of them may not have the opportunity or accessibility to a normal government owned tertiary institutions most especially during the admission period and you know we have limited number of Universities in Oyo state. There are only LAUTECH and the University of Ibadan.

“Even LAUTECH has limited space to accommodate new intakes so, we looked at the situation, if you can not get a University admission, let’s get another opportunity where they can achieve their academic aspirations of quality Polytechnic education.

“That’s how we entered into an understanding with SAF Polytechnic, Iseyin, it’s a privately owned government approved Polytechnic and all their courses have been approved by the NBTC which means all their courses are fully accredited for study.

“We actually issued out two hundred forms for members of my constituency but after the joint screening by representatives of the school authority and my office, only 135 were successful and have been admitted into the Polytechnic. All arrangements have been made for the successful students to resume to campus in order to commence their academic works.

“You know it’s all about developing the human capital, the politics we are playing this time around is high-tech politics. The era of amala and gbegiri politics is gone so, what we’re doing is changing the narrative of human empowerments from what used to be obtainable in the past to new innovations so that our youths can meet up with the demands of current realities of the digital world.

“Instead of giving out okada(motorcycles) thereby turning our youths into okada riders, or distributing sowing machines to barbers where eventually the items will be sold off even before you leave the empowerment venue. In fact we have witnessed a situation where a wheelchair was given to a physically blind man in the name of empowerment, we don’t believe in such.

“We believe in sustainable empowerments because these youths are the future of Oyo state. If we are able to provide sustainable empowerments for them, then they will be better off tomorrow. We don’t want to create a generation of youths indulging in drugs and substance abuse.

“Once they’re in school, there orientation and behavior will be refined for good and they will be better off for both their families and the society at large.” Hon Kazeem said.

He attributed the spike in social vices including what he described as the ‘get rich quick syndrome’ also known as money ritual ‘yahoo yahoo’ among the youths to ignorance, illiteracy, and lack of opportunities for the youths to find a spot to excel in the present society adding that is now prevalent among youths between the age bracket of 16 and 20 years.

He added that even though the dastardly act is being reported more in neighboring states including Ogun, he maintained that the government and public office holders must urgently rise to the occasion by preventing a spillover effects in Oyo state noting that the mindset of the youths if not productively engaged is always ready to explore anything regardless of consequences.

Hon. Kazeem explained that his office has sponsored no fewer than 350 students on scholarships since 2019 adding that he will not rest on his commitment to ensure that more opportunities are created for youths of his constituency to have access to qualitative secondary and tertiary education in order to create a future of youths who can be well positioned for the energing digital world.