He is a policeman, but Prince Alaba Otude is a different breed of ‘men in black.’ He spends his salary on training and equipping children of his colleagues who died in service. STEPHEN GBADAMOSI writes on his efforts and the challenges.

HE is a prince of Ogbere Kingdom in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, but he finds himself in one of the most vilified professions in this part of the world: Police.

Alaba Adeyinka Otude remains undaunted in his chosen career but the despicable way some relations of policemen, particularly families of those who died in service, live, became a source of worry to him. According to this policeman, a sergeant with MOPOL 4, Eleyele, Ibadan, Oyo State, he made a tour of some police barracks and discovered that there were children of deceased policemen roaming the streets. He took the challenge from there and strove for years to establish a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that would take it upon itself to address the problem faced by these children.

The first intervention would be to give them training in vocational areas so that they would not continuously be at the mercy of any person or organisation. Otude sensed the urgency in the task he had taken upon himself. Thus, he had to begin the assistance even before he formally registered the Okanlawon Otude Foundation, using savings from his salary to fund the training and equipping of the first batch of beneficiaries of his scheme.

Otude did not possess knowledge of this trade. He had to contact experts and secure their services to be able to train the children. He, therefore, went into partnership with a training and consultancy firm headed by one Alhaji Remi Owolabi and after a few months, the beneficiaries had qualified.

Of the beneficiaries, the fate of two brothers, Buliaminu and Idowu, of the same father, appears more pathetic. Their father, Olawoyin, was said to be attached to the Ibara Police Station, Abeokuta, Ogun State before he died in active service. Since then, the boys, who only had the opportunity to get secondary school education, have been roaming the streets.

But through the help of Sergeant Otude, they received training in cell phone repairing and troubleshooting and were each equipped with a laptop computer and other equipment needed for the trade.

Among the trainees was also Clement Abba whose father was a policeman with MOPOL 4, Eleyele Ibadan before he died in service. He got the same training as the Olawoyins and got a laptop and GSM phone troubleshooting equipment.

The beneficiaries spoke with Sunday Tribune on their experience. Thirty-year-old Buliaminu, who trained as a carpenter, said by virtue of his training, he had now become independent of people.

“After our father died, I lived at the mercy of others. But now, after I have been trained in carpentry, I can fend for myself. Once I have job invitation, it is certain that I will make money. I really thank Sergeant Otude for the change he has made in our lives,” he said.

Similarly, Buliaminu’s brother, Idowu, was full of praise for Otude. He said though he still had his mother and elder siblings around, it was difficult living before Otude came into their lives.

“I was trained in GSM phone repairing. I never knew I could be this lucky. After the training, when it was certified that we understood the job, the organiser of the assistance also purchased laptop computers, troubleshooting devices and other equipment for us so that we can start business immediately. I can tell you that the training is very useful. Sometimes, I make up to N1, 500 in a day. And with this, I can feed myself,” he noted.

There is also Ademola Agbesina, a 26-year-old youth who said he used to survive on his father before he got the cell phone repair training.

“I was trained on GSM phone repair. I can fix any problem a cell phone has, be it hardware or software problem. I used to survive on my father. But now, I can fend for myself. All I can say is that I thank Oga Otude,” he said.

Another of the beneficiaries, Clement Aba, has left Ibadan for Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to ply his trade. But his mother, Agnes, told Sunday Tribune that courtesy of the training and empowerment her son received from Otude, he is now doing very well in Abuja.

“I speak with him every day, even more than once a day. He is doing well. At least, he is self employed and earns a living. It is better than before when they used to roam about the barracks doing nothing.

“You know, the idle hand is the devil’s workshop. I thank God that somebody can come to help him like this. Even if he still goes to school, the knowledge that he already has will not depart from him. Clement is doing well with the training he had,” she noted.

The man who handled the GSM engineering training aspect of the package, Alhaji Owolabi, noted that though he could not say exactly how much it cost Otude to train and equip each of the beneficiaries, he was sure he must have spent a lot of money.

“It is only the man who spent the money that can say exactly what he has spent. But I can tell you that we train each candidate here for N25, 000. All those you see in our office now are well trained. They can solve any problem associated with GSM. It is the same training that we gave those that the policeman sponsored. He also financed the tools that they would need for the job. How he sourced for the funds he used, I wouldn’t know, but he surely needs help if he is going to continue this kind of thing,” he said.

Today, after many months of struggling, Sergeant Otude has registered his NGO, Okanlawon Otude Foundation with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), but it appears he is still far from getting to the desired destination. This is because he intends to enlarge the scope of his operation. His belief is that even the microscopic Ibadan area he is beginning with has not been effectively covered. Yet, he intends to extend the hand of assistance to children of deceased policemen in other states of the federation. And there are many police barracks in Ibadan that have not been touched and the barracks that had been touched could not be covered exhaustively as a result of limited resources.

Even with this problem, Prince Otude said the inspiration he had that propelled him into this work had children of deceased soldiers roaming Army barracks among the target beneficiaries. He admitted that it was lack of required resources that confined him to starting from his immediate constituency, the police barracks.

Certainly, Otude will need the assistance of philanthropists to finance his tall dream of providing succor to children of deceased men in police and Army barracks across the country.