Olanipekun Raises Hope Of 4,219 Poor Nigerians 

... Join Voice To Call For Six Years Single Tenure

… As Oyebanji Give Reason For Delay In Payment Of N70,000 Minimum Wage 

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By Joseph Sunday 

A prominent Nigerian legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun has raised the hope of a total of 4,219 poor Nigerians from his country home of Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti State from 1996 till date by giving scholarships and empowerments to them through his Foundation known as Wole Olanipekun Foundation, WOF and Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme, WOSS.

The legal luminary has also joined his voice to the call for a six years single tenure for all political office holders in the Country just as the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji gave  reasons for the delay in the payment of the N70,000 minimum wage for the State workers. 

Both Chief Wole Olanipekun and Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji spoke with newsmen at Ikere Ekiti in Ekiti State on Saturday during the 2024 annual event of Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme and Wole Olanipekun Foundation, where scholarships and empowerments were given to indigent students and business owners.

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According to Chief Wole Olanipekun, he said, since the commencement of the scholarship and empowerment programmes in 1996, revealed that a total of 4,219 Nigerians have so far benefited from it. 

Giving the statistics of those who had benefitted in the previous years during his speech, Olanipekun said, the Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Scheme has assisted a total of 3,019 poor people while the Wole Olanipekun Foundation helped 800 poor citizens with empowerments.

He however revealed that for the year 2024, 150 scholarships were given while 250 people benefitted from the empowerments programmes.

He explained that the scholarship programme covers secondary education level, university undergraduates and Law School candidates while the empowerments catered for market women and business owners. 

Reacting to the call for a six-year single term proposal for political office holders in the Country, Chief Wole Olanipekun narrated how former President Olusegun Obasanjo rejected the idea for the Nigerian Presidents during his time between 1999 and 2007. 

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The elder statesman said the proposal was initiated in 2002 when he was the President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to stabilize the Nigeria’s system of government and avert crisis brewing among geopolitical zones.

Olanipekun blamed Obasanjo for rejecting the proposal when he was the President of the Nigerian Bar Association between 2002 to 2004. 

He described the proposal as one that was beautifully crafted to help stabilized the Country at the time, “According to Olanipekun, he said, the idea of the six-year single term was for an example, make the President come from the Southwest and six Vice Presidents spread across the six geo-politucal zones of the Country, who will be given portfolios like Ministry of Justice, Education, Defence, FCT and Works. 

“A Geopolitical zone that has a Vice President of Education will not have a Minister of Education. We read it out for him and if per adventure, the president of a geo-political zone whether impeached or dies in office, the Vice President from his geo-political zone will complete his tenure.

“We would have stabilized the system but it didn’t work. Obasanjo even told me, he said ‘Look at you, I have dribbled and my ball is now in the 18, you are suggesting what kind of President I am’.

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“I am still on the view that we have to do something about the constitution, we have to look into it, the constitution to me is not federal, it does not reflect what we have on ground as people of Nigeria, as the context of Nigeria. We should have a constitution that is homegrown, no constitution is perfect but we can’t be going on with an imperfect constitution, it’s just a house with no good foundation and something has to be done to it”.

Also speaking to newsmen at the event, the Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, while citing reasons for the delay in the payment of the new minimum wage of N70,000 to workers in the State, said, “the delay in the payment was because of the prolonged negotiations which ended few weeks ago, adding that the budget for the payment had just been captured in the appropriation bill signed by him”.

He however pleaded with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to exempt Ekiti State from its planned nationwide strike called to protest the non-payment of the new minimum wage in the Country, assuring that payments of the new minimum wage to workers in Ekiti State will commence in December, 2024. 

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