God Gave Us Culture, Education and Religion For Humanity To Continue – Prof. (Alhaji) Olagoke

…Says, I Don’t Need To Be A Billionaire Before I Can Help People

IBADAN – Prof. (Alhaji) Sabit Ariyo OLagoke, JP, former Dean, School of Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro-Yewa, Ogun State, a member to several professional bodies and the Mogaji Aare Alaasa of Oj’Oba, Ibadan in this interview with Bode Lawal of StarTrend Int’l magazine opens up on his background, journey in life, religion and education. Excerpts.

Sir, it was scooped that you’re planning to own a University, is this true?

That has been in the offing long ago, we have been planning to own a Private University. We want to involve a lot of friends to impart their knowledge, and trail the blaze. There is a trend in technology. ICT is taking over. Mind you, virtual lecturing is taking over. Initially NUC is saying we should have 100 hectares of land. We have land at Apata for the University site. Oba Abdul Ganiyu, the Aseyin of Iseyin also gave us 100 hectares of land at Iseyin.

And, to me, anything you want to do, you must first acknowledge God. That’s why we are building a Mosque. We also established a Medical Center, and a pure water factory. We have a pure water factory as a form of education material. I’m so passionate about humanity. If at all I can turn myself into money, and the money can serve people, I’m ready to do that. So that’s what we are planning, we are planning to float Shafuadeen Minaret University.

Can you please shed more light on your love for humanity?

My father happened to be one of the wealthiest. I was number 44, and I was born when he was above 70. Today, at my family lineage, I’m the last man standing, by the special grace of god. I came from a polygamous home, and my father happened to be a good friend of the Late Ooni of Ife, Sir Adesoji Aderemi. For the good 50 years on the throne of the Oba, my father and him were rocking it together. But by the time I was born, I met poverty. My father always taught us not to discriminate, whenever we, his children wanted to fight these our Hausa neighbours at Oja’ba in Ibadan he always told us do we know where we’ll find ourselves in the future?

It is then I realize that poverty is not our friend. I want to give back to society. My parents had died a long time ago, and there were some people that contributed to raising me up. I went to those schools; Christian schools, and I found out there how things should have been. You have to be careful when you are keeping a polygamous house that you cannot manage well. Polygamous home always face hell and those who survive become very brilliant.

There are three things in life that God gave us, for humanity to continue; he gave us culture, education and religion. All these three are supposed to be a learning point for humanity , to develop high capacity . With these three things dysfunctional, there ought to be a problem in the land. There is poverty in the land and this always moves me. I don’t need to be a billionaire before I can help people.

So, that the kind of philosophy I’ m selling to the people

What is your take on religion and the establishment of Shafaudeen?

First and foremost, I was born at Ojaba, Ibadan where you have the Central Mosque, but as I was growing up, I became revolted. You know curious children always look for examples. I used to question the authority of the Muslims and the Christians, because you would see these people at the herbalists’ place, patronizing them, buying things from them for rituals. So, I now imagine, can’t these people (Christians and Muslims) stand on their own?

These same herbalists you abuse, you go back to them for spiritual favour. Late Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat was killed because he was a peace broker between the Isreali and the Palestines. You say, the Bible came from Israel and the Quran came from Sandi Arabia, but you couldn’t use these two books to stop this violence. I can’t belong to the religion of killings, and I’m not.

What about your achievements in Education?

My contributions in education were remarkable. I discovered that if you really want to lecture these students, you come down to their level. Our educational system must be completely overhauled. Academics really offer us an opportunity to go into research. It is poverty that is affecting us here. When you want to go into research, you would have to go to FUNAAB from Ilaro for apparatus to do research with, and still, you will not finish it there.

There is a lack of funds and apparatus to do research with, in this country. You see a Ph.D student waiting for 16years before getting the degree because he lacks funds to travel overseas for his project. Our educational system in this country is fraught with fraud. So, what I’m saying in essence is that our educational system must be completely overhauled.

Can you share your views on the country’s politics?

You may come up with good policies, but at the implementation stage, there is always a problem. There is no continuity in governance. Once a government leaves, another one would come in, and rubbish what you have done and start his own. We want people with the antecedent of credible record in government, people that are ready to sacrifice their own pleasure, for the good of the people. These are the type of people we want in government.

We have a lot of people in this country that are wisdom-leaders, but we have people in government that are not ready to listen to them. That is the major problem we are having now. Their behaviour, their governance style have made the Nigerians to be traumatized. Even now, you find out now that your young boys, your young girls in schools don’t believe in hard work again. Money making syndrome is the order of the day.

When you miss the goal of equity, it will lead to marginalization. Marginalization will lead to restructuring. That’s why we now have people who say let’s now reform, let’s now amend the constitution. If you can’t listen to us, let my people go, let the Yoruba go, let the Biafrans go but the government does not listen. These people in governance are very successful in disabling the population, throwing us into the quagmire of fear.

There is no difference among the political parties we have in the village. They are all monsters. These people in power believe in wrestling power. They aim to be in power. They use all means to perpetuate power.

Can you proffer solutions to the problems of Nigeria?

The solution I believe is enormous and should be treated spiritually. We should call unto God with sincere heart for a change.

Who is Prof. (Alhaji) Sabit Ariyo OLagoke?

I’m Prof. (Alhaji) Sabit Ariyo OLagoke, JP, former Dean, School of Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro-Yewa, Ogun State. I’m an Engineer, and a member of several professional bodies, which include Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers (NSCE), Engineering Regulation and Fellow (ERM), Inspector, COREN and Fellow, Nigeria Association of Technologist in Engineering (NATE).

I’m the Founder and Spiritual Head, Shafuadeen-In-Islam Worldwide, and recently the Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Saliu Adetunji made me the Mogaji Aare Alaasa of Oj’oba, Ibadan, capital of Oyo State.