The old students of Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure, have resolved to build an ultra-modern skills acquisition centre to train the school’s students in entrepreneurship and innovations .
The Global President of the Oyemekun Alumni Association, Dr Niyi Ijogun, said this at a news conference to herald the commemoration of the school’s 72nd anniversary.
Ijogun said that a hall in the school’s premises would be allocated for the initiative so that students at their tender stage would be enrolled and comprehensively provided vocational skills.
“ We are going to have a dedicated building within the school’s premisesthat we are going to call the Entrepreneurship Building, where students from JSS3will start to have one or two, or even more, skills that they are going to develop.
“I must also let you know that I am a member of the Construction Industries Skills Acquisition Board of Nigeria.
“So I have a particular interest to ensure that what we preach at the federal level we also have it in this great school.
“ This school is going to be a model, and you can underline that.
“It is going to be a model for others to copy, because we want our products to be self reliant and internationally valuable.
“We have a lot in our plans to ensure that any product that passes out of this school have a robust education, have values that cannot be jettisoned,” he said.
The president said that the association with a solid strength of over 42,000 old students were resolved to support the project.
“We are building on values that Oyemekun is known for and that Oyemekun teaches and I must let you know that the school has produced over 42,000 students and they are doing well in their various life endeavours.
“Some of them are first class traditional rulers: Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi and Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, Olowo of Owo.
“Our products spread across the globe; they are professors of note and successful politicians.
“ They are ready to continue to assist us and fulfill the dream of the founding fathers.
“ I assure the school’s management that with the strength and motivation of over 42,000 members of the alumni, we are ready to let you know that the transformation seen has just begun,” he said.
According to him, the association will continue to assist the students of the school with infrastructure and learning incentives.
“ Our benchmark is not schools in Nigeria but schools in the U.K., schools in Australia, and we want to have students that can beat their chest when they want to present them for IELTS, for instance.
“So, our theater of operation is global level, and not within the state nor at the national level,” he said.