Olu Akinkugbe Pharmacy Trust Begins N2.5b Investment Drive for Ondo State University

The Olu Akinkugbe Pharmacy Education Trust (OAPET) has kicked off its fundraising and investment drive for the proposed N2.5 billion Olu Akinkugbe Faculty of Pharmacy, with a launch event at The Metropolitan Club, Ikoyi, in Lagos, yesterday.

The eight-man trusteeship council, which comprises eminent Nigerians and leading minds in pharmacy practice, has been established to govern fundraising and management of the Faculty of Pharmacy, establishing the corporate governance well associated with the Faculty’s patron, Chief Olu Akinkugbe, as well as ensuring its sustainability.

The OAPET is chaired by former Minister of Health and Social Services and Chairman, Juli Pharmacy and the MTN Foundation, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, and includes Chairman of Access Bank Plc and former Chief Executive of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (Federal Ministry of Health), Dr. (Mrs) Oritsedere Awosika, MD/CEO SecureID Nigeria, Mrs. Kofoworola Akinkugbe, and Co-founder and Chairman, Aluko & Oyebode (Barristers & Solicitors).

Others are Chairman, Teach for Nigeria, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, Pro-chancellor, Caleb University, Retired Professor of Pharmacy and former Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, Rev. (Professor) ‘Fola Tayo,; Vice Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Professor Adesegun Fatusi; Registrar, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Dr. Woleola Ekundayo; and Professor and Director of Research, Innovation and Development, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Professor Olumide Ogundahunsi.

Chief Oludolapo Ibukun Akinkugbe, who has already provided part funding for the project, expressed his gratitude, reiterating his passion for pharmacy and the provision of best-in-class healthcare, “When I was approached by the University of Medical Sciences, to be associated with this project, I knew I had no alternative, largely for two reasons: my family has been involved in providing health services in Ondo for a little more than a hundred years – my father qualified as a druggist in Ondo in 1919 and my late younger brother was associated with the University of Medical Sciences in Ondo as its first Pro-chancellor; second, everybody knows how much pharmacy has come to the fore as a result of the pandemic. Today’s pharmacists must have enhanced skills to combat this menace. Research is always a collaborative enterprise amongst medical professions. The fact that UNIMED has emerged, within seven years, as a top medical institution, gives me the assurance that when they start producing pharmacists, they would be top-class.”

Delivering the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu’s goodwill message, the Ondo state Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa said, “We are here to support Chief Olu Akinkugbe who is a pride of Ondo, the Sunshine state. When the past governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko kicked off the project to build the university, we knew it was a legacy to be preserved and an opportunity to showcase the great minds of our youth in Ondo state. There is no befitting individual for the proposed Faculty of Pharmacy to be named after than the iconic pharmaceutical expert and one of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria’s earliest presidents.”