By Kayode Fasua
All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairmanship aspirant for Ojokoro Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, has granted tuition-free scholarships worth over N20 million to 2,074 students in various tertiary institutions.
Okeyomi, who disclosed the gesture, in a chat with THISDAY, said the scholarship programme, which has no political undertone, was a regular charity gesture under his Change Agent Foundation International (CAFI), which he founded 12 years ago.
Lamenting the plight of indigent students dropping out of school owing to their parents’ inability to pay their tuition fees, Okeyomi said it was high time the well-to-do citizens rose up to the occasion.
The politician, who is a security consultant and large-scale farmer, said, “bearing my humble background in mind, and propelled by my Christian faith on the importance of charity, I resolved way back in 2007 to set up the CAFI, under which I mobilise funds to help the less-privileged.
“Every year, we assist students through scholarships and artisans through requisite tools and training empowerment. Only last month, we disbursed over N20 million to the managements of various tertiary institutions in the country, as tuition-free scholarships and it covered a total of 2,074 students. We are determined to do more and are using the CAFI as a rallying point, to draft in other well-to-do Nigerians into the charity train.”
Okeyomi also said the quest to assist the poor was the driving force in his aspiration to get elected as chairman of Ojokoro LCDA, a position he is vying for, for the fourth consecutive time.
“I wish to take the boys and girls roaming about the streets with no jobs, out of their plight by empowering them and setting up small-scale industries to absorb them. I also wish to institute a social welfare scheme to fend for the senior citizens and widows,” he said.
