Participants Commend Ekiti Graduate Summer School Initiative

L-R: Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Directors of the School, Dr. Wale Adebanwi; Dr. Ebenezer Obadare; Prof. Adetola Alabi (Missippi State University, USA); and a participant, Mr. Lade Bamigboye, during a dinner in honour of Laureates and Faculty of the Inaugural Ikogosi Graduate Summer School, in Ado-Ekiti.

The Fifty participants of the on-going Ikogosi Graduate Summer School held at Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort Ikogosi Ekiti on Tuesdayapplauded the State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi for initiating the summer programme; saying that the two-week long programme has made them better scholars and citizens.

The participants who shared their experiences at the programme at a state banquet hosted in their honour at the Jibowu hall, government House Complex, Tuesday evening, were full of praises to government for the opportunity to be taught and mentored by world renowned scholars.

At the dinner party were the Deputy Governor, Professor Modupe Adelabu, the Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Honourable Adetunji Orisalade, Secretary to the State Government, Dr Ganiyu Owolabi, the Co-Director of the Summer School, Dr Wale Adebanwi, Dr Ebenezer Obadare, Professor Adetola Alabi of Mississippi State University, USA and the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Policy and Strategy, Dr Femi Akinola, members of the state assembly and the state executive council.

Speaking on behalf of the participants at a dinner held in Ado Ekiti in honour of the Laureates and Faculty of the Graduate Summer School, Mr Ebenezer Oni  said the programme has exposed them to knowledge which the formal University curriculum cannot avail them; stressing that “it is true education” that the State Government is giving them.

Oni expressed confidence that the scholars who are postgraduate students drawn from different Universities across the country would leave the School as more improved and well-equipped students who could realize the vision of a linkage between the gown and the town;
promising that they would soon return to contribute their quota to the development of the State.
He urged the Governor to initiate a bill that would help institutionalize the School so that successive administrations could continue the programme which he opined would make Ekiti scholars truly first among equals.

Oni while commending all of the resource persons at the programme urged the Governor to allow his wife, Erelu Bisi Fayemi to return to the academics stressing that the First Lady delivered “a brilliant lecture” to the participant. She said that her expertise will no doubt benefit the Nigerian students.

Responding, Governor Fayemi said the Ikogosi Summer School has drawn the attention of many people within and outside Nigeria to Ikogosi even as a serving Governor expressed interest in the programme as well gave him a pat in the back for the initiative.
While explaining the rationale behind organizing the School, the Governor said it was a way of bringing together upcoming scholars to generate “original ideas” which would eventually lead to the all-round transformation of the State beyond the usual “bookish State” which the
State is known for.

Dr. Fayemi who had stated that the idea of the Summer School was conceived during a discussion with some Ekiti indigenes who lecture in varsities across Europe and America on how they could contribute to the development of the State, said that IGSS was not “about education for its sake but about the functionality of education” as his administration has been working to ensure that students go beyond just obtaining academic certificates but translating their knowledge into practicals.

On the sustainability of the Summer School, the Governor assured that he would look into how the programme could be institutionalized so that upcoming generations can benefit from it.

Last modified: June 26, 2013