By: Olumide Olubakinde
-All Roads Lead To Akure
Jimoh Ibrahim is the greatest, he is revered in the political circles and respected in the Academia. He is the founder of the Aseyori methodology the model that became a seminary of sort that reconciled sworn political enemies and factional political leaders in Ondo state bringing them all into one fold of progressivism. A feat unprecedented in our political life.
This is one of the many reasons I celebrate the Federal University Of Technology, Akure (FUTA) led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adenike Temitope Oladiji, fas for her vision by thinking out of the box and choosing as Guest Lecturer for this year’s University Foundation Lecture scheduled for Tuesday August 20th, 2024 our indefatigable leader, Senator (Dr) Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR CFR. A scholar and founder of the University of Fortune, Igbotako. He holds among other degrees a doctor of business with first class honours from the University of Cambridge making him the first to receive such since the establishment of that prestigious University in 1209.
Interestingly the topic of this year’s foundation lecture is ‘Abandoned Mega Projects in Nigeria’ and Dr Ibrahim’s dissertation on his doctorate at Cambridge was on ‘ How Megaprojects Are Damaging Nigeria And How To Fix it. Dr Jimoh Ibrahim the scholar completed his doctorate degree in a record six months ahead of the University four years.
Also in his dissertation he was able to identify 11, 886 abandoned Nigeria federal government projects with three of them equalling to 60 percent of our national debt. Among the three chiefs are: Lagos – Badagry Express way, The Ajaokuta Steel Company and the Subsidy Reinvestment Project (Sure- P) projects. The national library is another sore to mention a few with over N200 billion gone down the drain.
Corruption, lackadaisical attitude to work, indiscipline are among factors mitigating against the completion of the projects but according to late, Barr. Oluwatotimi Akeredolu, SAN CON former governor of Ondo state while congratulating Dr Jimoh Ibrahim at his graduation at Cambridge in 2022, he said ‘ the event of his graduation makes a significant punctuation in the history of Nigeria, that a prominent son of Ondo state and Nigeria is the first person to complete the degree of the doctor of business from the Judge Business School’. He disclosed that his administration and the nation at large would exploit and explore Dr Jimoh Ibrahim ‘s newly acquired knowledge.
Apart from the 10th Senate that is a direct beneficiary of the depth of knowledge of Dr Jimoh Ibrahim, FUTA too has joined the right path to improve Megaprojects knowledge with new skills of Dr Jimoh Ibrahim which ones put to use in our country will change the narrative.
Dr Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR CFR is an academic titan, a business mogul, an inspiring lecturer, a distinguished Senator, a mentor of professors & politicians, an astute administrator, a polyglot, a skilled writer, a language expert and an International relations expert. He is also a respected politician, a philanthropist and above all a gentleman of the highest order.
‘All roads therefore lead to Akure tomorrow to hear from the greatest of all’.
