Arole Oodua Olofin Adimula & the Paramount ruler of Ile-Ife, His Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, CFR, Ojaja II the Ooni of Ife has inaugurated a three-burden carrier of Ife development pillar which include Ife development board, Ife board of trustees, Ife trust Fund with Ife indigenes home and in diaspora gathering in the abode of Oduduwa to give back to their source.
The globally attended inauguration which took place on Saturday, 29th June 2024 at the Palace of Oonirinsa where Mrs. Ibidapo Obe gave a heartwarming welcome address symbolizes the Unity that Ife stands for as the source of all Mankind.
In her welcome address, Mrs. Olusola Ibidapo Obe described the inauguration as an unprecedented milestone because it is an historic opportunity for Ile-Ife to harness resources for her development, socialize, and also, network one another.
She used the medium to appreciate the Almighty God, ITF and the outgoing executives of Ife development board for a time well spent during their administration.
The Ooni of Ife, Arole Oodua Olofin Adimula Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, CFR, Ojaja II has explicitly narrated his 9 years on the throne of his forebears as a studying moment wherein the modules operandi of the development and the progress of Ile-Ife would be designed before eventually resulting on the widely used Mantra of Ile-Ife, “Kids are wise, Adults are wise are what we used to create Ile-Ife”
His Majesty unraffles the puzzle of this Mantra by saying Ife Development Board refers to Kids are wise which connotatively means ‘thinking’, that is, they will be doing Ife developmental thinking, Ife Board of Trustees refers to Adults are wise which means ‘Wisdom’ that is, they will be overseeing the thinking of IDB while Ife Trust Fund refers to Funds that we used to create Ile-Ife that is, they will be sourcing and be providing funds for the thinking of IDB.
According to Ooni, the establishment of the development pillars was a dream come through as it would relief him of solely running around for the growth of his land.
“If anybody pierce my body, instead of blood to come out, it is Ife that will coming out’-Ooni
Oonirinsa used the opportunity to pay homage to his predecessors who have joined hands with him in ensuring the inauguration comes to a reality because one thing is age, another thing is the throne of Oduduwa, talking of age, people that are gathered here are older but the throne is older than everybody.
It is time for consistent scholarships in Ile-Ife, It is time for uninterrupted amenities in Ile-Ife, It is time for progressive networks among our children, no more running to the foreign lands that is segregating our children from networking one another in terms of development.
No more Ife has king but no dignitaries, we have the resources particularly sharing boundaries with about 5 states and we have countless Ife dignitaries, let the Diaspora join hands with Ooni for the progress of our land as our Target in the next 5 years is 5 billion naira.-Ooni
Ooni Ogunwusi appreciated the outgoing executives for engaging in developmental project like Mokuro water, Mokuro bread, mining sites and so on.
Arole Oodua equally kickstarted the donation into the purse of Ife Trust Fund by signing and presenting a cheque of 50 million naira for immediate collection.
The incoming Chairman of IDB, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, a veteran journalist and the present provost of International Institute of Journalism has said the only request that IDB is making from Ile-Ife as a whole is prayers to deliver the message of the land well so that Ife will go beyond disparities, conflict and argument. “All we need is your support and cooperation-He said
In his own address, Chief Henry Alex Duduyemi, a business Mogul and the incoming Chairman of Ife Board of Trustees beseeched all the sons and daughters of Ile-Ife in the name of their progenitor Oduduwa to join hands with them in the bid to give back to Ile-Ife as Ile-Ife has imparted into us one way or the other.
Chief Duduyemi assured Ile-Ife to expect everything they want soonest as they kick start work with immediate effect.
Barrister Soji Awogbade, the incoming Chairman of Ife trust fund has said they have swung into action by registering IFT as Ife Community Trust Fund immediately they heard the rumour that Ooni is planning to establish ITF.
Each member of this establishment has contributed a sum of 5 million naira to lay the foundation of the trust fund.
The prolific legal luminary used the opportunity to beseech everybody to understand that they are only representing Ile-Ife to raise funds but raising funds is a collective responsiblity, therefore, parents who have kids in abroad should start calling them that they must give back to Ile-Ife.
He assured all the participants that at least once in a year, the committee must present the revenue and the expenditure to the public and whoever misses it can go to CAC to cross check the spendings.
The historic inauguration ended with donations from all the participants where it was later spiced up with varieties of meal.
