Greatest Funaabites Guess whos Celebrating His Birthday with Nigeria. It is Prof. A .A Agboola Birthday, one of Prominent Lecturers in Mathematics and Funaab. Former H.O.D of the Mathematics Department. He shares his story here: I have every reason to Glorify and Thank Almighty Allah as I am celebrating my Birthday today with the Country called Nigeria. My highest educational attainment in life could have been Primary School if not for the Free Education of the Late Sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I finished my primary school at St. Andrews Anglican Primary School, Ilugun Railway Station, Killa in 1973. My late father being an Alfa, Imam and Arabic teacher decided that being the first son and the first child, he would not allow me to further my education but rather would want me to take after him. He sat me down personally to teach me how to read and translate Qurian and also to write in Arabic. I was under his tutorship between 1973 and 1976. Due to the brilliance of myself and my friends Adeboye Bankole (later Dr. Bankole of blessed memory) and Taofeek Sanusi in school, our class teacher in primaries 5 and 6 in person of Mr. Taiwo a native of Ibadan approached our parents for permission to allow him to send us to secondary school with his own money. Our parents totally turned down his offer and we remained in the village after our G2 examinations. However, with the supports of their parents, Adeboye Bankole and Taofeek Sanusi gained admission to BBHS in Abeokuta but sadlly, I remained in the village with my parents. Adeboye Bankole later gained admission to University of Lagos where he graduated in medicine. Each time Adeboye and Taofeek came back to the village for holidays, I would go and hide myself away from them. My father noted these attitudes and knew that I was not happy being kept in the village. He then decided to have a change of mind. In 1976 February, my father called me and asked what I would like to do next having satisfactorily completed my Quarianic studies. I told him without missing words that I would want to go to secondary school. His immediate answer was NO! He said he could not afford it moreso when there was no secondary school around my village. The closest secondary school was Egba Odeda High School about 40km away from Killa. He gave me the only option to go and decide on any trade I would prefer to learn. Since I was tired staying in the village, I went back to my father and told him that I have decided to learn how to repair RADIO. He agreed and discussed the matter with my Mother who had no say but to comply totally with whatever my father decided. I was taken to Ibadan in April 1976 to go and learn RADIONIC. I successfully learnt the art of electrical and electronics between 1976 and 1979 under Oga J.Olu Akinade. After graduation in 1979, I started to work as a technician at a radio and television shop at Dugbe in Ibadan. Meanwhile, I never dropped my ambition of going to secondary school. As God would have it, I was staying in Ibadan with the senior brother of my friend Taofeek Sanusi who happened to be the son of Alhaj Saibu Sanusi a close friend of my father. Since Taofeek used to come to Ibadan for holidays, I told him to get me a book in electronics and fortunately he brought to me a physics textbook titled “Ordinary Level Physics by Abbott”. I started studying the book privately without much difficulty because of my good background in arithmetic. Alas! my studies in Physics started with the book. To the Glory of God, Free Education was introduced in all Western States including Ogun State by the Unity Party of Nigeria in 1980 under the leadership of Papa Obafemi Awolowo. I quickly left Ibadan to Abeokuta to obtain the form and I was eventually admitted to Salawu Abiola Comprehensive High School, Osiele, Abeokuta in 1980. I finished secondary school in 1985 and the same year enrolled for A Levels at Ogun State Polytechnic. Through JAMB, I gained admission to University of Lagos in 1986 and graduated with a B.Sc. Hon. Degree in Mathematics in 1990. Though my father did not approve my going to secondary not to talk of going to the University, he was indeed very happy when he attended my graduation at Akoka in 1991. That was the day he ever stepped into a University Campus. He made a remark loudly and openly in the presence of everybody that “ the only day I ever witnessed a crowd like this was the Day of Arafat in Mecca in 1973”. Dear friends, this is a tip of the iceberg. More stories of my personal life will be shared with you as time goes on. Dear friends, given all the resources in Nigeria, education should be made FREE at ALL LEVELS. There still exist potential scientists, engineers, mathematicians, doctors etc in the villages, motor parks, mechanic villages, markets. .. doing one thing or the other because their parents could not afford sending them to schools. Our politicians should therefore learn from the ideals and policies of Papa Obafemi Awolowo. It was painful that I was not opportuned to sign the condolence register for the late PAPA. Click like and comment to wish Him a Happy Birthday.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 17:14:22 +0000
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