I simply choose not just to celebrate 50 years……

On the 2^nd of March 2016, my 50th year crept up on me, half a century of existence on the planet earth was confirmed.  For months up to the date, I attempted to live in self-denial, shielding the inevitable fact, that I had become ‘old’, my hair had assumed greyness and that my relentless match onward towards eternity was gathering pace. 

But I had decided so long ago, in fact a decade ago that celebrating these milestones was not my cup of tea.  I had no aversion to celebrating others but me? No way! Not due to the lack of gratitude to the Almighty but just how i see it.  This was reinforced by the fact that my twin, Folashade Feyisara whom I looked up to had passed on some 6 years previously.  But during moments of personal reflection, points of consultation with my wife, times of affirmation with Ade Laniyan, my brother-in-law and in the course of a ‘discourse’ with an intellectual ’Bisi Suleiman, a conviction set in. The conviction was that the attainment of half a century created a unique opportunity to gather friends and relatives together not just to felicitate but to create a facility for transforming life opportunities for the young.

I was at, The Palms, Shoprite, Ibadan, a shopping mall, when I met one of the trolley operators, the weather beaten man astonished me by explaining the intricacies of a Physics formula.  On further enquiry as to the extent of his knowledge of science, I stumbled across the discovery, that he had been a student of some distinction in science but terminated his education at Secondary School level because of the paucity of funds. This singular encounter motivates me today and has set me on the path of conviction that I can be part of the change I desire to see around me.

Folashade Feyisara was a philanthropist, she trained many, both acquaintances and relatives.  Her death left a vacuum in this area. My ambition is that this proposed Scholarship Fund will in some way fill this gap and go on to transform the opportunities for many lives blighted by poverty.  This will be launched on 15^th April 2016 at Lead City University Ibadan, Conference Centre at 11am under the distinguished chairmanship of Prof. Olakunke Iyanda.

I will not pass this route again, I have struck my cord, I have declared my hand, I enjoin you, enlist you, plead with you and appeal to you, to help me create the largest scholarship fund in Nigeria by giving as generously as you can.   You may donate to the interim bank account, referencing FF Scholarship Fund – Olukayode Ojedokun Diamond Bank 0053944840.