Adebayo Adenrele
An Ekiti-born legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, has donated an ultra-modern Senate Building to Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The building, which will be a multi-million architectural masterpiece to be decked to taste with the state-of-the-arts facilities, is expected to be completed in eight months.
Olanipekun, who was the immediate past Chairman, Body of Benchers, has purchased and fully paid for all the essential materials to be used, including iron rods, trailer loads of cement, all aluminum fittings and windows, among others.
When completed, the Senate Building will have the following: State-of-the-arts Conference Room,Vice-Chancellor’s office, Senate Conference Room, Council’s Conference Room, Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s office, Registrar’s office, Bursar’s office as well as administrative offices, among others.
Chief Olanipekun is making the donation in spite of the inflation and austere times in the country in fulfilment of his pledge when Bamidele Olumilua University was established and the then Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, appointed him its Chancellor.
He made a silent resolve to replicate what he did at the University of Ibadan, where he had served as Pro-Chancellor for four years, and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, where he was also Pro-Chancellor for eight years.
He decided he would not take a farthing as allowance or accept any other benefit but to humbly contribute to the institution’s development, one of which was his pledge to build a befitting Senate edifice for them.
The legal luminary would have long ago completed the Senate Building but the funds earmarked for it had to be diverted into building an ultra-modern, eye-catching court complex in the same Ikere-Ekiti, which he donated to the Ekiti Judiciary, to replace the old, decrepit court building that had become an eyesore and no longer inhabitable to humans.
Chief Olanipekun, reputed for his legendary philanthropy had, among his numerous philanthropic gestures, built a 350-capacity magnificent Lecture Theatre for the University of Ibadan and also single-handedly built the Vice-Chancellor’s Lodge for Ajayi Crowther University, when he was at different times the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council for both institutions.
