By Nudoiba Ojen
Legal luminary and immediate past Chairman, Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has donated an ultra-modern Senate Building to Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
Construction of the building, which will be a multi-million architectural masterpiece, to be decked to taste with the state-of-the-arts facilities, will be completed in eight months.
The suppliers and vendors have been mobilised to site.
When completed, the Senate Building will have state-of-the-arts Conference Room, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Senate Conference Room, Council’s Conference Room, Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Registrar’s Office, Bursar’s Office as well as administrative offices, among others.
An impeccable source said, “It (the Senate Building) is to be completed in just eight months, as the legal icon has purchased and fully paid for all the essential materials to be used, including iron rods, trailer loads of cement, all aluminum fittings and windows, among others”.
Chief Olanipekun is making the donation in spite of the inflation and austere times in the country in fulfilment of his pledge when Bamidele Olumilua University was established and the then Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, appointed him its Chancellor.
The legal giant and philanthropist made a silent resolve then to replicate what he did at the University of Ibadan, where he had served as Pro-Chancellor for four years, and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, where he was also Pro-Chancellor for eight years.
He decided he would not take allowance or accept any other benefit, but to humbly contribute to the institution’s development, one of which was his pledge to build a befitting Senate edifice for them.
The legal luminary would have long ago completed the Senate Building, but the funds earmarked for it had to be diverted into building an ultra-modern, eye-catching court complex in the same Ikere-Ekiti, which he donated to the Ekiti State Judiciary, to replace the old, decrepit court building that had become an eyesore and no longer inhabitable to humans.
Chief Olanipekun, however, resolved to still go ahead with the Senate Building project, even though times are hard because he has to honour his words, insisting that “the words of any gentleman should be his bond” and he does not wish to leave any unfulfilled pledge for his children.
However, he devised an ingenious strategy to beat spiralling inflation by purchasing and paying in advance for all the materials needed for the project, which are all now on ground.
Olanipekun, reputed for his legendary philanthropy, had, among his numerous philanthropic gestures, built a 350-capacity magnificent Lecture Theatre for the University of Ibadan and also single-handedly built the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge for Ajayi Crowther University, when he was at different times the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council for both institutions.
