Foundation earmarks N100m for renovation of Kwara school

Maryam Abeeb

The Gobir Foundation, a Kwara-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has earmarked N100 million for the development of Oke Suna Primary School, Ilorin, the first elementary school in the state.
The Initiator of the Foundation, Malam Yakub Gobir, disclosed this at an event to adopt the school on Friday in Ilorin.
He said the money would be expended on the school in the next five years.
The school, which was founded in 1915, a year after the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates of the country, had produced several eminent personalities such as the 9th Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Zulukarnaini Gambari.
Similarly, some of the Gobirs produced by the school was Abubakar Gobir, father of the initiator of the foundation.
Malam Yakub Gobir, a Pharmacist and entrepreneur, said his family’s very strong affiliation with the school explained the interest in adopting the school.
He expressed delight in complementing the efforts of the State Government as an illustrious son of the Ilorin Emirate.
According to him, the intervention will be a life time approach, blaming the failure of other educational interventions in the country on lack of continuity.
“Primary education is the basis of future academic excellence in every child. Whatever level attained in education will definitely be affected, if the primary level is faulty,” he said.
Gobir commended the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school, for sustaining the academic excellence that the school was known for over the years.
Earlier, the Secretary, Ilorin East Local Government Education Authority, Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan, identified provision of furniture and toilet facilities as the areas of urgent attention in the school.
“There is no single toilet for both students and teachers in school B, since its establishment,” the scribe said.
According to him, other areas of urgent attention in the school include the repair of school borehole, equipping the computer room, science kits, supply of ceiling fans and structural repairs.