Following the success of the free medical outreach embarked upon by Professor Adeolu Akande, traditional rulers in the 7 communities of Itesiwaju local government have commended the Otu-born political scientist for the gesture.
Together with the Oyo State Forum, Akande, who was Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, commenced the free medicals on Monday in Otu, his hometown.
At the event, hundreds of residents, including children, of the council from Otu, Okaka, Ipapo, Igbojaiye, Komu, Oke-Amu and Baba-Ode benefited from the gesture.
They were not only tested, they were counseled and given free drugs. Dental screening was also included.
All the traditional rulers, as well as representatives of the Muslim Community, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and traditional worshippers, who were part of the programme from the beginning to the end, were also screened.
Speaking on behalf of the monarchs, the Oniro of Otu, Oba Sunday Adepoju, “without good health, nothing can be achieved. We are grateful that our son decided to start this from home. We have to support his ambition to govern this state. We have so many known indigenes but Adeolu stands out. We know his father. This is not about religion. He is young and well educated. I pray he gets the ticket and go on to win the election.”
On why he decided to organise the free medicals, Akande, who teaches political science at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State said that it one of the ways of giving back and assisting the people. “The gesture is going to be a continuous one. This is one of the many initiatives lined up to assist our people. If all of us can assist the needy in one way or the other, life will become more meaningful to the people. The government cannot do everything, especially in this troubled times,” he stressed.
“Over the years I have been focused on mentoring our youths by helping many of them to stay in school, gaining admission to various institions of learning across the country and collaborating with others to help them set up small businesses. We are going into free health provision because our research has shown that our people suffer and die of avoidable ilnesses. It is another way of giving back to society,”he added.
There was however wild jubilation when Akande, who once worked in The Presidency, revealed that plan has been concluded to assist women with interest-free loan to augment their business. He added that the money will not be collected from them but will be given to another set of beneficiaries after the first set might have repayed theirs, after a certain period of time.
The beneficiaries were grateful to the initiator of the programme. One of them, simply called Iya Tunde, enthused: “I don’t even know how to thank him. To access basic health care is expensive here. Most of us prefer traditional means because we are not financially stable. By the numbers of those who are here, you will understand what I am saying. As early as 5 a.m, people had started registering for this scheme. We were not only treated, we were counseled and given drugs. Now that most of us have known our status, we will know to prevent or treat it. Not only this, I was so happy when he announced the loan scheme. See, to access loan in this part of Nigeria is difficult. We cannot wait to see the commencement of the scheme.”
