Hon. (Mrs.) Adijat Oladapo-Adeleye, member representing Ifo Constituency II, in Ogun State House of Assembly, on Friday, February 21, 2014, launched a free ICT Training Centre and also offered free medical care to members of her constituency in fulfillment of some of her election promises. Royal fathers, politicians, dignitaries as well as various socio-political groups were present at the event. YES International!’s GBENGA SHABA had a chat with her on that and more…
Why the need for an ICT Centre in this environment?
Actually, what we’re having today is a 3-in-1 programme. The first is the commissioning of our new ICT training centre. Part of my electioneering promises was that I’m going to set up a free ICT training centre, which we have done. We’ve been running one for about two years now, but because of the size and population of this constituency, we discovered that there’s need for us to set up another one.
Are you partnering other agencies on this?
Fortunately for us, after buying the land and the building, we got an agency under the committee chairman of Science and Technology in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade. The agency is National Information Technology Development Agency. They equipped the centre for us, but we will be responsible for the running of the place, paying of staff and maintaining the equipments. That means we will be running two centres now and then run two sessions, morning and afternoon. This will give more people the opportunity to learn computer operations free of charge.
You said the event is 3-in-1, what are the other activities for today?
We are having a graduation ceremony for some of our outstanding students. We have about three batches who are yet to graduate. They are all graduating today. We also have free medical care. This was instituted last year, February 21. Four years ago, I lost my sister, Oluwaseun Omoniyi Adeleye, due to medication complications, and the family decided that we needed to do something in her memory. So, we felt these days, people concentrate only on their daily work, leaving them with no time to take care of their health. There are others who want to, but don’t have the means. What we have done is to bring all these people together and offer them free medical care under the Omoniyi Foundation.
Do you have specific medical areas you are covering?
No, it covers general health issues. You check all your vital organs, malaria, typhoid, etc. It also includes optical; your eyes would be tested to see if you need corrective glasses. You’ll be given free. It also includes dentals. We have also added de-worming for children as well as free breast cancer screening. Even the one the usually scares people in available; that’s the HIV screening.
We have people from the three major political parties in Ogun State here today. Are you defecting?
I am in All Progressive Congress (APC) as at today. I have friends across board. I have friends in PDP, Labour Party and other parties as a seasoned politician. However, I am a card carrying member of the APC. Nigeria is gradually moving to a stage where the issue of party has reduced; people now look at your personality. What have you done, what can you do for your people? People are now working across the bridge. All the programmes we’ve been having are purely apolitical.
Your constituency is wearing a new look in terms of road construction, what is your reaction to this?
I want to use the opportunity to thank the government of Ogun State, ably led by Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for the ongoing road construction that we are witnessing in Ifo State Constituency. This is a border constituency between Lagos and Ogun State and the only link with this constituency is the Sango-Ijoko-Agbado-Akute-Ojodu Road. If you are coming through the express; you have to pass through Abule Egba. You will have to come in through Lagos before you can get here. Because of this, we have been demanding for this for so long. We are thankful to the government. I also want to appeal to those who have been affected by the demolition of their properties in order to give way to the construction that they should please bear with the government. They should be patient.