How Okeho town shaped my journey into public service – Prof. Olaopa
The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said growing up in Okeho, Oyo State, greatly impacted his vision of public service.
In a goodwill message to the Okeho community on the celebration of the 2025 Okeho Day, Olaopa enthused that Ökehò holds strong memories for him, constituting a significant part of his upbringing and sociocultural heritage.
“I am very lucky to have been born and raised within the confluence of Yorùbá cultural heritage located first at Ökehò and then later at Aáwę. Ori ní mo fi rìn wọ Okeho – it is a town that contributed a lot in defining the understanding of my root and where I would be today.
“I grew up in Isale Alubo and got immersed in the deep cultural ferment at Ökehò that was representative of Ali Mazrui’s triple heritage framework that brought Christians, Muslims and traditional Yorùbá together in deep communal relationship. I also had a one-year stint at Ökehò-Igànná Grammar School, and my deep Christian foundation began taking root from my Baptist grounding at First Baptist Church, Isia, Okeho,” he stated.
Recalling his father’s commitment to his duties in Okeho as a sanitary inspector, Olaopa said, “It was a duty he took as a calling. I grew up, from 1959 to 1974, recognising the passion of Babá W’olé W’olé (as my father was called then) for the health and hygiene of a town, and how that was one of the most basic and fundamental responsibilities that the government owes its people,” he said.
He commended His Royal Majesty, Oba Dr Rafiu Osuolale Mustapha Adeitan II, the Onjo of Okeho, and the Egbé Qmo bilệ Ökeho for facilitating the breaking forth of the town into national reckoning with the Federal University of Agriculture and Technology, Okehó (FUNATO), to be sited in the town.
“Such a specialised university in Ökehò translates into a deepening of the relevance of our town and Oke Ogun as a whole as an economic corridor that contributes to the Southwest’s and Nigeria’s desire for self-reliance,” Olaopa stressed.
He eulogised the exemplary commitment and influence of notable Ökehó sons and daughters, including Alhaji (Chief) Shittu Akanbi Gbenusola Olopoenia, Dr Razaq Olopoenia, Prof. Segun Gbadegesin (emeritus professor of philosophy at Howard University), and Mr Moyo Ajekigbe (former MD of First Bank, Plc.), among others.
