- Why I gifted my country home, by The Nation Editorial Adviser
- KOSU honours donor
Kabba town was agog with jubilation yesterday as Emeritus Professor Olatunji Dare, the distinguished scholar, writer, and public intellectual, gifted his country home to the Kogi State University (KOSU), Kabba.
The elegantly furnished five-bedroom duplex was named the Olatunji Dare Building. Located along Late Pa Peter Seleke Road, Oluwatobi Quarters, Kabba, it is a model of comfort and aesthetic taste.
It boasts two spacious living rooms, all en-suite bedrooms, dual kitchens, a dining room, stores, laundry, a borehole, a new soundproof generator, a gatehouse, and boys’ quarters.
The compound is landscaped with flower gardens, paved with interlocking tiles, fitted with solar lighting, and secured by twin gates.
The domestic staff are to be retained for one year by the institution.
At a colourful handover ceremony, the university community, led by Vice Chancellor Prof. Kehinde Eniola and Governing Council Chairman Prof. Sulaiman Sadiku, received the keys and documents from the donor’s representative, retired Colonel Samuel Abayomi Dare.
Prof. Sadiku said the university has resolved to declare every August 21 as Professor Olatunji Dare Day.
The event drew dignitaries, including the Chairman of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH) and a friend of the donor, Emeritus Prof. Olu Obafemi; the Obaro of Kabba and Chairman of Okun Traditional Council, His Royal Majesty Oba Dele Owoniyi, and senior officials of KOSU.
Though unable to attend in person, Prof. Dare conveyed his speech through Col. Dare (Rtd.), who travelled from Lagos to perform the symbolic transfer.
In his message, the eminent professor recalled the decades-long yearning of the Okun people for a university, noting that “education is their industry.”
He described his donation as both a personal legacy and an investment in the future of KOSU.
“I had just turned 75 when I resolved to endow the university with a meaningful gift,” he said.
“This house, once my country home, will henceforth belong to Kogi State University, Kabba, to serve as a centre of hospitality, learning, and service.”
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He praised the commitment of the university’s leadership, especially Vice Chancellor Eniola, whose direct engagement “displayed rare qualities of the Omoluabi tradition.”
He urged the management to build a university that reflects the history, culture, and ecology of its environment, and to harness the intellectual capital of the Okun diaspora as well as the wisdom of retired statesmen within the community.
The donation was met with songs of gratitude, rendered in both English and the local dialect, as students, staff, and guests joined in celebration.
Prof. Eniola hailed the gift as a “massive encouragement,” stressing that it provides not only accommodation for official guests but also a symbolic validation of the university’s vision.
“This is more than a building,” he said. “It is an expression of trust, love, and community ownership of our institution.”
Prof. Sadiku described the gesture as “a great indication of buy-in by the community”.
Prof. Obafemi called it “exemplary generosity, made even more profound by the fact that the house was fully furnished and equipped.”
The Obaro of Kabba, Oba Owoniyi, urged other citizens and friends of Kogi State to emulate the gesture.
“This university is not for Kabba alone but for the entire state,” he said.
“We call on men and women of goodwill to support its growth.”
The event ended with prayers and heartfelt tributes to those who contributed to the building’s history.
Col. Dare, who officially handed over the keys, described his elder brother as “a torchbearer, a gentleman par excellence, and a man whose passion for education is evident in this enduring legacy.”
Why I donated my house, by Prof. Dare
Going down memory lane, Prof. Dare said: “Long before the creation of Kogi State, the people of Okunland had been yearning for a University.
“After all, education is their industry. At the very least, they expected the College of Agriculture, Kabba, established in the 1960s as an affiliate of Ahmadu Bello University, to be upgraded to a full-fledged University.
“The basic infrastructure was in place. The catchment area boasted thriving secondary schools that would guarantee a stream of well-prepared students.
“Also guaranteed was a faculty of senior and middle-level academics of Okun origin, willing and ready to relocate from universities in Nigeria and abroad.
“Everything was in place, except the political will. That will finally found practical expression some four years or so ago, with the establishment of Kogi State University, Kabba.
“Watching its inaugural matriculation ceremony on television from this residence that will from today become a property of Kogi State University, Kabba, the thought of endowing the university through one gesture or another took shape in my mind.
“I had just turned 75 at the time, and realised that I had far fewer years ahead of me than behind me.”
According to him, the first person he shared the thought with outside his immediate family was “our esteemed brother, Olu Obafemi, Distinguished Professor of Dramatic Literature, Emeritus, and Asiwaju of Kiri Kingdom.”
Prof. Obafemi was at the time chairman of the Governing Council of Kogi State University, Kabba, “and the excitement with which he received the intimation virtually sealed the matter. That was eight months ago.”
Prof. Dare continued: “With his accustomed dynamism, Prof. Obafemi quickly devised a ceremony for the formal transfer of the property.
“Perhaps he was fearful that I might change my mind. There was no chance. Though premature, his move set the scene for today’s ceremony.
“The Vice Chancellor, Professor Kehinde Eniola, took over the matter from there, communicating with me directly by phone and email and WhatsApp.”
He noted that another Vice Chancellor in his exalted office would have delegated the matter to a lesser official, probably a senior assistant registrar. Not he.
“Even if I had been minded to change course, Professor Eniola’s courtesies alone would have dissuaded me,” Prof. Dare said.
“In phone call after phone call, email after email and WhatsApp message after WhatsApp message, he displayed those attributes, rare these days, that our people consecrated in the term OMOLUABI.”
He added: “Thank you very much, Mr Vice Chancellor. I hope your noble example will pervade the halls and offices of Kogi State University Kabba.”
He advised the Vice Chancellor and the school management on how to ensure that the school fulfils its mandate.
He said: “Kogi State University Kabba should not strive to be just another university. It should, instead, explore opportunities provided by the history, culture, ecology and environment of its location to expand the frontiers of knowledge and widen the mental horizons of its students and members of the larger community.
“Within a 30-km radius of this location, you will find an abundance of specialists in practically every subject under the sun and even beyond it. Take the fullest advantage of this abundance.
“You will find retired senior policy-makers of every hue willing to impart their wisdom to and share their knowledge with KSU Kabba’s constituencies. These are valuable assets. Cultivate them. Engage them as resource persons.
“In the burgeoning expatriate Nigerian communities in Europe and America, you will find hundreds, perhaps thousands, of accomplished academics, professionals and industrialists of Okun origin. Draw them into a constituency, a network for the advancement of KSU Kabba.
“We shall always have with us those who thirst for knowledge but have had no opportunity to do so.
“Help them in their quest for self-actualisation through promoting and sustaining literacy and through teaching those skills so vital to functioning in a world that waits for no person.
“Do not leave them behind. Permit me, Your Majesties, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to engage in reminiscences that occasions of this nature call for.
“My mother, Charity Ajoke Dare (neé Lewu), acquired this site in 1974, hoping that I would put up a building on it within a year or two. I regret that I did not fulfil her expectations.”
He commended those who played one role or the other in the acquisition of the land and construction of the edifice, and requested that a minute’s silence be observed in their honour.
He said: “Construction on the site began 40 years later, and 17 years after her death.
“My immediate younger brother Emmanuel Dare kept land grabbers away but unfortunately passed away in the final phase of the construction.
“My primary school classmate and friend, Samuel Olowosulu, a retired specialist in stores and supplies, supervised the building with scrupulous integrity.
“He witnessed the completion but passed away some three years ago. (The wife of the late Olowosulu graced the event).
“In many significant ways, this day belongs to them. In my visits home while the house was being built, my uncle Ambassador Dr Jaiyeola Lewu housed me and shielded me in innumerable ways and was an inspiring companion. This day belongs to him, too.
“To the artisans who built the house, my grateful thanks for the cordial relationship we enjoyed from start to finish.
“I enjoin the denizens of the neighbourhood to accord new and future residents the respect and goodwill they always showed me.
“I urge KSU Kabba, for its part, to ensure that its neighbours reap the dividends of its presence.
“It remains now to hand over the keys and documents relating to this property to the Vice Chancellor, Professor Kehinde Eniola, to hold and to keep in perpetuity, for and on behalf of Kogi State University, Kabba.
“Much to my regret, I am unable to perform that act in person. My nephew Colonel Yomi Dare (Rtd), an Officer and Gentleman in whom I am well pleased, has kindly taken precious time away from his demanding law practice and incurred considerable personal expense to hand over the edifice on my behalf.
“May all who will reside in it, conduct official business in it or inhabit it for one purpose or another, and those who will service it, do so in good health, good cheer, and happy contentment. Amen.”
VC: Donation massive, exemplary
Prof. Eniola expressed gratitude to God for blessing the University through spirited individuals and philanthropists like Prof. Dare.
Eniola said: “We thank God for a beautiful day again. It’s another wonderful occasion and the unfolding history of our university.
“We just received another donation, which is a mansion which Prof. Olatunji Dare has graciously bequeathed to the university without any strings attached.
“This, for us, is a massive encouragement. We can now receive visitors.
“Besides the gift, the expression of love and confidence, the acceptance that this gift represents is more important to me as the Vice Chancellor, which shows the community is buying into the vision of the university.
“I’m excited. I’m excited because when you see people who see what you are doing and they say: ‘We will support what you are doing,’ it is God blessing your work, for which I’m very grateful.”
Prof. Sadiku said the donation showed the buy-in of the community to the establishment, progress and development of the university.
“I feel very highly elated today for having this edifice donated to us by an illustrious scholar, media guru and a globally accredited university school.
“So, this is what we want to have. When we started this university, we wanted the buy-in of the community. This is a great indication of the buy-in, that the people are taking ownership of their university.
“They are interested, and that’s an indication that they love the university.
“That’s why they are giving whatever they have, their window’s mite to the university.
“This one is by every means a great donation and by the grace of God, we shall put it to use for the benefit of mankind and to the glory of God Almighty.”
Prof. Obafemi described the gesture as exemplary and a thing of joy.
He said: “It’s a thing of joy. It’s a factor of excitement and intimidation. The level of generosity that Prof. Olatunji Dare brought to giving out this property to the university is exemplary.
“He not only gave the building, he furnished it, and he installed a big generator to make sure that it functions immediately.
“It has come from his heart, from the love that he has for the community, the love he has for education. It is exemplary, worthy of emulation, and I feel very proud.”
The Obaro of Kabba, Oba Owoniyi, urged other members of the community to emulate the gesture.
He told reporters: “This should be an example to others to emulate. It is our prayer that you don’t even have to come from Kabba before you help the university.
“This university is not meant for Kabba alone; it is meant for the whole of the state. So an Igala man can come here to help us.
“Any public-spirited individual can come around to help us. So we are appealing to people of goodwill to come to our aid.
“How many Kabba people can do what this man has done for us? Has there been anybody who has been able to do something like this? I am short of words.”
He prayed for God to bless and reward Prof. Dare for the donation.
