Oke Ija Ofa is a hilly Community in Gbagura , Abeokuta North Local Government area of Ogun State. The joy of residents of the community knew no bounds on Tuesday the 22nd of June, 2021 when à Philanthropic organisation, the Egba Agura Lions Club Commissioned a borehole it constructed for inhabitants of Oke Ija Ofa. The Business Package was there .
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From available evidence , constructing a borehole at Oke Ija Ofa is like finding water in a desert. It has been a no go area for series of such projects that had been donated to the community. Instead, such donor agencies , including the World Bank had taken solace in constructing borehole at the lower end of the hilly town, whereas those who are living at the tip of the hill found it extremely difficult to ferry water from the lower area to the top.
Thus , the people have had to endure the devastating effects of not having a portable water nearby, hoping that maybe one day fortunes will smile on them.
Fortunes eventually smiled on them when the Egba Agura Lions club thought it wise to break the jinx of several years of futile efforts to sink a Borehole in the area as it eventually struck water.
The project was commissioned by Agura of Gbagura , Oba Saburee Babajide Bakre , Jamolu the Second who incidentally was celebrating his birthday same day and was represented by his wife , Olori Omobolanle Bakre who was in company of Erelu of Agura kingdom .
Olori Omobolanle while commissioning the project prayed that it will be a springboard to more developmental projects in the community while enjoining the people to make judicious use of the facility.
Lion Lanre Biobaku who is the President of Egba Agura Lions Club spoke on the past efforts and the challenges encountered by his organisation in trying to give the people of the community a new lease of life.
" Today, we are here to Commission the borehole project which was donated by the family of the Late Olori Tinuade Olaloko to Egba Agura Lions Club. The project was supposed to be a part of the Charter Presentation of the Egba Agura Lions Club . Unfortunately , we could not achieve the Commissioning on the 22 nd of May when the Club assumed a Charttered status. It was a very herculian task to sink a borehole here. Several people and groups who had attempted it in the past could not achieve it"
"It is very difficult to construct borehole in this community. One of the earliest boreholes that we have here ,the one that was done by the World Bank was done at a level that is not that high and we observed that people from the top of the hill are having problems accessing it. Gbagura Community also did one ,but those at the tip of the hill could still not access it.
" We saw it as a challenge and by the grace of God ,we have been able to construct a borehole at here. This project is a project that we are really happy that we are Instrumental to it's construction.This is because, when we brought the first Contractor, an Indian, he left; the second contractor also left; this is the third contractor who got the project done based on our insistent that we wanted the borehole here".
According to him ,the Egba Agura Lions Club which he is fortunate to be the President has decided to dedicate all her projects to the development and growth of Gbaguraland .
" we have decided that all our projects would revolve round the development and growth of Gbagura"
Lion Biobaku at the Commissioning expressed appreciation to the family of the late Olori Tinuade Olaloko who made the project possible through the donation of a huge sum of 2.5 Million naira.
He enjoined the community to make use of the facility saying the Egba Agura Lions Club which he is the President is poised to attract more developmental projects into the area and Gbaguraland as a whole .
He said " In our own Club , specifically the Egba Agura Lions club, our idea is to develop our community, which is within the purview of Lions Club. So, we try as much as possible to give to the people through our Program based on the activities of the Lions Club International and we do our projects to ensure that it has impact on the lives of the people".
The people of the community were full of appreciation to the donor and prayed for the continued success of the Egba Agura Lions club and the donors who have made life more comfortable for them through the donation .
Mr Moshood Usman , the Wakil of Gbagura who spoke on behalf of the community expressed gratitude to the Club .
" We are very grateful to the Egba Agura Lions club and the donor for this mighty efforts. Despite the fact that all of these people are not in any way indigenes of Oke Ija Ofa , they deemed it fit to construct this borehole for our usage. We really appreciate the efforts , especially because many Engineers had been here in the past who could not make this happen. But, when these people came , they insisted that they will get this project done and they did it. We are eternally grateful .
In a remark , the District Governor of Lions Club, Lion Oluremi Lynda Odunmbaku expressed appreciation to Kabiesi for finding the time to attend to the matter despite the fact that it fell on his birthday.
"Olori here is graciously representing Kabiesi and we are very happy that despite Kabiesi's birthday today, you have found the little time for us to attend this commissioning"
She later enjoined the people of the community to make judicious use of the Borehole while also calling on them to encourage the indigenes of the town on all spheres of life to join Lions Club in order to ensure that projects of such magnitude
continue to berth in the community.
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