•Says “though I helped to sell bread at Adeoyo hospital gate, I still went to school”
Oyo state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, on Sunday, said his decision to declare free education in the state was in recognition of the huge part that education had played in his successes in life.
Making reference to his humble background, which involved him selling bread by the gate of Adeoyo state hospital, Ibadan for his first 13 years in Makinde held that only by being educated did he make headway in life.
Makinde, who spoke during the 80th thanksgiving service of his mother, Mrs Abigael Makinde, at St Paul Anglican Church, Yemetu, Ibadan, on Sunday, said he also wanted residents of the state to gain the benefits of being educated hence his declaration of free education.
He therefore urged parents to be much concerned about the education of their children or wards.
“For the first 13 years of my life, where we lived was not more than five minutes to where we are now. My mum was a Telephone Operator in the state secretariat. At Adeoyo State Hospital here, I and my brother Muyiwa also used to help her sell bread by the gate of Adeoyo State Hospital.
“What can propel a child who used to live some five minutes away from here [Yemetu] to become a Governor of Oyo state is education. And that is why we have declared that free and qualitative education has come to stay in Oyo state,” Makinde said.
