Scoring 35% in Yoruba almost
cost me my scholarship - Chief Oluremi Atanda, Eketa Oba of Iwoland, Renowned Geneticist & Plant Breeder
Sunday:25-10-2009
Chief Oluremi AtandaHIS names connote hope. Being the first child of
his parents, the names were probably a reflection of their belief that their first fruit would bring them abundance in all the good things of life. Their aspiration was greatly rewarded, the little chap became more than their expectation.
Born on September 22, 1939, the Iwo, Western Nigeria (Osun State) indigene is brilliance personified. Right from his early days at the Quranic School, through all the stages of Western education and his career, excellence was always shooting forth. It is believed in some circles that the Quranic school laid the foundation for his intellectual prowess. He shone like a star he is throughout his Quranic education. Later, he led his classes in academics and sports, with prizes to show, from Infant I to Standard 5. He passed the national common entrance examination to Molusi College, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, South West Nigeria as the best student and also won the Western Region scholarship for secondary schools, with a score of 246, out of 300.
He got the best student prizes at Molusi College from 1952 to 1955; gained double promotion in 1953; best quiz student in junior and senior classes (1953–1956); became class captain, football team captain and head of Ojowo House (1955/56). He represented Molusi College at the Dempster Competition for selected schools in the Western Region in 1955 and was the first Molusi College student to pass HSC entrance exam into Government College, Ibadan and the only one in his HSC class that came from a non-government college. Winning of football colours was precious to Government College, he won his colours in 1957 and 1958.
His Bachelor of Science (Agricultural Science) project dissertation was named the best in 1964 and he finished his Ph.D in a record time of two years and nine months. He was one of the three African students in Britain who bagged the 1968 award to visit the USA as guests of the State Department. He has published 46 scientific papers in learned journals; published 20 non-scientific and educational papers; he has been involved in the breeding of general purpose varieties of rice and development of nursery techniques for cocoa, coffee, cashew and kola. He was Chairman Editorial Board, 5th International Cocoa Research Conference (1975) and collaborated on many cocoa planting materials when in CRIN (Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria).
He was elected into the National Constitutional Conference, Abuja in 1995 and he moved as the Director, Federal Research Institute, on persuasion of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, to become the Chairman, Old Oyo State Public Service Commission (1980/83). He holds many board, academic, professional, social and traditional posts and is the longest serving national president of Molusi College Old Student Association from 1976 to 1983.
The founder, Atanda Continuing Education Centre, and other groups of schools, listed in Nigeria and Africa who is who, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), Fellow Nigerian Academy of Education (FNAE), the world renowned geneticist and plant breeder, Chief Oluremi Ademola Ajadi Atanda goes down memory lane:
The Friday feasts
“I went to one of the best Quranic schools, that of Alfa Badru of Ile-Amin. I was enrolled in 1944 with two of my brothers. We were always beaten for coming late because we used to play on the way. Two of our teachers, Bamidele Apetu and Elede (a.k.a. ‘Alasalatu’) were not always taken in by our lies so they always gave us thorough beatings. I can never forget them and the punishment they usually gave us to ‘fly to London’ you raise one leg and spread out the two hands as if you wanted to fly under the Almond tree near our Quranic school. With all the very strict training, however, we never missed the school on Fridays because of the edibles brought to the school by some good people on that day. Friday became the weekly feast days for us as these charitable people brought things like akara (bean cakes, mosa (corn cake), eko (cold pap) and moinmoin (bean bake).
At times, there would be cassava flour (lafun) or yam flour (oka isu) with bean soup (gbegiri and other delicious soups. Even some teachers, at such occasions, exhibited greed. I was given special recognition for outstanding performance and one thing I also remember is that the teachers allowed each child to progress at his or her own pace. I cherish my graduation day (wolimat) because I rode on a horse round our relatives’ places while everybody participated. I also rode to the palace while I received many gifts from relatives and well-wishers. It was a great occasion for me and it spurred me on to do my best as I continued with Western education.”
Primary school
“Father was just thinking of sending me back for further Qur’anic studies when my brother, Eniola, who was then in Standard III at Baptist Day School, Oke-Odo, Iwo, advised him that I was too young to become an Alfa, that I deserved to be enrolled for Western education because of my sharp brain. He suggested that I should do Quranic studies part-time and that was how father registered me and two of my brothers, because of our polygamous setting, at Baptist Day Schol, Oke-Odo.
However, nobody remembered to go to Quranic school and that was how we stopped. Some of my teachers made lasting impressions on me. I always admired my first teacher in the school, Mr. Ajileye Arowolo, who taught me English and Yoruba alphabets in Infant 1. The man was smart, always neat, tidy and intelligent. He was always in shorts with long stockings and hard-sole shining shoes to match. Wherever he moved, the sound of his shoes loudly announced his presence. He was the only teacher in the school that was not professionally trained, but he was my first example of how a decent, responsible man should dress and behave. In 1950, in Standard III, Mr. Ojebode became my class teacher. A great disciplinarian, Mr. Ojebode had no respect for any academic performance or any good performance for that matter, in any pupil. He was simply a ‘no nonsense’ man tacitly perceived by the pupils as a very difficult and insensentive teacher. He had a ‘wicked’ whip nicknamed ‘bitanga’ by us. That whip was ‘stronger’ than the well-known ‘cane whip’ called ‘pankere’. My brother, Femi was one of the great victims of Mr. Ojebode.
On one occasion while the man was flogging Femi, two other Atanda brothers, Mufu and Ganiyu were crying in sympathy and Mr. Ojebode retorted by saying: “Awon brothers re ma tie n ba e sunkun” (meaning Kamilu (Femi’s) brothers were crying for him?). He then pounced on these my crying brothers and flogged them mercilessly to stop them from crying.It was Ojebode’s pastime to send erring pupils to a stream called “OdoMaster,” about two kilometres away from the school, to fetch water, even when water was abundantly available in the school premises. And after such water had been fetched, he would ask you to pour it on the bare floor, to indicate that he had rendered their labour futile. But despite all these, I believed the man was a good teacher and one of those who shaped my life. Mr. Osungbeje, alias ‘Osun gba blood’, from Ode Omu in Osun State, was my teacher in Standard IV, in 1951. A gentleman to the core, Osungbeje was very affectionate, peaceful, caring, kind-hearted, dedicated and long-sighted.
He was the one who first identified my potentials and developed me. With confidence and irreccesible conviction, he made me and other pupils in Standard IV to attempt the same First Leaving Certificate Examination with Standard VI pupils, two classes ahead. This move naturally caused some row, with the Standard VI pupils and some teachers who saw it as an excessive ambition protesting. The headmaster did not even want to hear such an aberration. But Osungbeje insisted, arguing that there was no crime in trying a good idea. He finally succeeded in convincing the then very ‘conservative’ headmaster and when the results came out, myself and Supo beat all the Standard VI pupils handsdown.
Osungbeje was always immaculately neat, very meticulous, painstanking and seriousminded. Later, Mr. Fagbohungbe, who was previously the headmaster of the junior school, became our class teacher. He wanted to make history of being the architect of a successful experiment by seeing Standard V pupils through to the secondary school, for the first time in the history of Baptist Day School. With time, Mr. Fagbohungbe (now late) became my greatest primary school teacher and mentor. He trusted me so much that he used to give me the key to his house at any time.
Fagbohungbe took it as an unremunerated personal duty to teach me Algebra privately in preparation for entrance examinations into secondary school. That effort gave me an edge, and he is always in my memory. He later became Dr. Fagbohungbe was one of the pioneer lecturers at the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Football
“Pa Kajopaye was another teacher who made impact. He was very active in academics as well as sporting. Before he left Baptist Day School, Pa Kajopaye, who later changed his name to Osotimehin, was the sports master. He is the father of Professor Babatunde Osotimehin, the current Federal Minister of Health. He recognised my potentialities in football since Standard One (1948), despite my tender age. I was the youngest player in the school’s football team, yet, the main star of the team and the cynosure of the spectators. Because of my small stature, my jersey was always an oversize, which made other pupils in the school, to nickname me ‘ko bo sokoto’ (without trousers). Pa Osotimehin mentored me in football and athletics and he brought many innovations into sporting activities in the school.
“The game of football was particularly interesting at Baptist Day School in those days and I earned fame, status, prestige, money, discipline, leadership role, finesse, cleanliness and sociability from it. In the school, we enjoyed free health care including annual de-worming and water supply from surface and underground tanks.
One thing I also remember was when I recited the ‘Sermon on the mount’, (Matthew Chapters 5, 6 & 7), with a total of 111 verses, offhand. I did the recitation at the annual end of year and prize-giving day in 1951, in Primary IV. In the large audience on that occasion were parents and representatives of all churches in Iwo, students of Baptist College who were anxious to see the 11-year-old wonder boy that would do what only the final year students of Baptist College would do. That was a day never to be forgotten in my life as I was carried shoulder- high and showered with all sorts of gifts. I also won virtually all the prizes earmarked for my class on that occasion.”
Scouting
“I was also enthusiastically involved in the school’s scouting activities. Through those activities, I learnt endurance, perseverance and steadfastness. Camping, which usually took place at the bank of Oba River, from Thursday to Sunday, on annual basis, was particularly interesting. It was full of training and special activities. As part of our training in the Boy Scouts, we did our cooking and washed our dresses ourselves, after setting our tents.
The Scout Movement has a rich and exciting history, which has led to its becoming today’s leading global youth movement. There are currently, more than 28 million Scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in 160 countries and territories.The Scout Law itself is full of moral and social commitments. A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed. Baden Powell, the founder and the Chief Scout of the world died on January 8, 1941 at 83. He was buried in a simple grave within sight of Mount Kenya.”
Common entrance
“When the result came for Osogbo Grammar School, I was first ‘over-all’ while Supo was second. But, while returning from the exam venue, an incident occurred which became a reminder of that examination forever. On our way back to Iwo, we went through Ejigbo where we were to visit a relative of Supo. By the time we reached Ejigbo, I was almost convulsing due to high fever. To ensure my quick recovery, we had to sleep overnight. It thus became evident that the decision to go through Ejigbo was a blessing in disguise, after all. Perhaps without that interventional care I promptly received, the story could have been different. Three of us, Supo, Fidelis and myself were admitted.”
Molusi College
“At Molusi College, I met some tutors with the same encouraging spirit as those in my primary school. Such tutors were quick in identifying me as an outstanding student.
In Molusi College, all classes had two arms. One was ‘A’ and the other was ‘B’. Class ‘A’ was meant for students above average while class B was meant for average students. Besides, the most brilliant student in a class was made the monitor of that class. Thus, on resumption, I was not only placed in Class One A along with other students who scored beyond average in the entrance examination, I was also made the class monitor. Short and smallish, I was delighted to be made the captain, but I was also frightened by the stature of most of my classmates. However, despite these and all the threats from some of my classmates, I emerged as the best student in the terminal examinations. I maintained the overall first position in the class and this automatically qualified me for double promotion.
The double promotion was, however, with the condition that failure to maintain a high standard in the promoted class would resort to a reversion of the double promotion. In that first terminal examinations, I led in all the subjects except Yoruba where I scored 35 per cent and which earned me a serious warning from the Western Regional Government Ministry of Education, threatening that should I again fail in ‘Yoruba’ or any other subject for that matter, the ‘scholarship’ would, without any further notice, be withdrawn. That letter of threat and that of the principal, late Dr. Tai Solarin, disturbed me to the marrow. This was compounded by my “fear of the unknown” in the promoted class which, since the beginning of the first term of the year, had started taking Physics, Chemistry, and Biology separately and distinctly.
To the surprise of all, including myself, the second term examinations took place and I beat everybody in Class II. This created some ‘mild tension’ and perhaps some excitement. They were not prepared for this and they were not well-disposed to the situation. I automatically became the class monitor for entire class, while I kept my first position and carried the duty of class monitor to Class Ill.”
Philosophy
“To help others and live an exemplary life. To be a shining light to others and do whatever I can to help others grow.”
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