Last Sunday marked the exact day Mrs Bosede Oladepo clocked 35 years as a teacher in the Lagos State civil service.
She had a thanksgiving during the morning service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Solid Rock Parish, Ojodu, and had planned to spend the rest of the day resting. But it was not to be as some friends – with the help of her family – plotted a ‘coup’ that saw her dancing and felicitating with well-wishers the rest of the day.
Mrs Oladepo, a graduate of English from the University of Lagos, retired as a Director of Education and the Principal, Sanngo Senior Secondary School, Agege, after a fulfilling career that coincidentally saw her posted to schools only around Education District One made up of Agege, Ifako-Ijaiye and Alimosho Local Government Areas.
Many among Sunday’s ‘coup plotters’ were friends from way back at the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo where she studied English and Yoruba at NCE level about 37 years ago. They were joined by pastors and members from RCCG, family members from Osogbo and Ibadan, former principals, colleagues, as well as her former students.
Mrs Oladepo’s Pen Down ceremony, which consisted of her writing her name, employment number, date of entry into service and date of exit and raising her pen and dropping it for the last time, was conducted by the Permanent Secretary in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Mrs Yetunde Odejayi, who was also co-opted into the coup.
When the MC announced for ‘coup plotters’ to come for photographs with Mrs Oladepo after the event, the retired Principal could only shout “ha-ha, you too!”, as the conspirators filed out one after the other.
One of them, Mrs Bolajoko Falore, Education Director of Mind Builders School, Omole, shared how they pulled it off.
“Bose is my very good friend. When I called her to ask her plans for retirement, she said she was not doing anything. Then some of our friends came together and decided to organise a surprise retirement party for her. We formed a group online from which we discussed our plans. People contributed towards it and then we got her family involved. The underlying thing was we told everyone she must not hear of it because it was a surprise. We planned it in line with what she would love – thanksgiving. We were afraid she should not disgrace us today by not showing up. But thank God, she came and it was successful,” she said.
The celebrator’s third child, Mrs Eniola Atilola, said the coup plotters almost failed to convince her mother to come to the venue of the event.
“It was really hard bringing down. Even her best friend failed to convince her to leave home to pray with someone. She only came to the venue because she was told she should come and inspect a venue the church had been looking for,” she said.
Mrs Atilola described her mother as a hard worker.
“She is very hard working, wonderful, kind and can multi-task. As much as women multi-task, hers is on another level. Now that we are all married, it has really helped us to manage our homes and careers,” she said.
Mrs Falore described Mrs Oladepo as a caring and straightforward person, who was always willing to help others.
In her response, Mrs Oladepo thanked her husband, Sola, for his support throughout her career. She also thanked God for her achievements, as well as her friends for their support.
“I want to thank God for my husband; he was actually the one who brought me to Lagos. It was while on this job that I had all my children. I want to thank God for my classmates in ACE. We are like a big family. Most of my friends went for their degrees immediately. But I started bearing children and with no one to help me, I could only do my degree when I was done. Without it, I would not have been fulfilled,” she said.
In an interview, Mrs Oladepo praised the Lagos State government for promoting quality education. She said the period when public secondary schools enjoyed the World Bank Eko Project grants was a major highlight in her career as schools got necessary facilities to train pupils, and teachers and top management staff enjoyed regular training.
She, however, called on the government to hire more teachers to replace those who were retiring.
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