Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun on Thursday gave the overall best graduating student of the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Oladimeji Shotunde, a two-bedroom bungalow and N2,000,000 on behalf of the state government.
He also gave 15-year-old Miss Odunsi Faith of Ambassadors College, Ota laptop, pledging to set up an education endowment fund in her name with N5,000,000 as a take-off seed fund for emerging first in the Global Open Mathematics Tournament.
The two are indigenes of Ogun State.
The governor spoke at the presentation of outstanding 23 teachers and learners – all indigenes of the state- during the celebration of “Ogun Academic Laureates 2021” in Abeokuta.
Another beneficiary is Olalekan Adeeko, a teacher at Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, who was given a two-bedroom bungalow for emerging first at the 2020 African Union Continental Teacher Award.
The teachers and learners were selected based on their outstanding performance in public academic competitions in 2020 and 2021, cutting across JETS competitions, projects and quiz in Mathematics, Basic Science, Basic Technology, Agricultural Science, Physics and Biology.
The governor said his administration, on assuming office, focused on infrastructural development; human capital development; provision of conducive environment, among others, to redeem the state’s education sector and restore its lost glory.
“This is why immediately on assumption of office on May 29, 2019 we declared a state of emergency in the education sector. It was a methodical and calculated approach to rescue the education sector from the dwindling fortunes inflicted on it by the indifference of the past,” he said.
Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, who participated in the ceremony virtually, congratulated the outstanding learners and teachers for making Ogun State proud.
He promised to host them soon in his Abeokuta home within ‘Jegba forest.’