TRIBUTE TO A GREAT TEACHER

TRIBUTE TO A GREAT TEACHER

Celebrating Chief Oye Jegede @ 80

by Femi  Alufa

”A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” - Henry Brooke Adams

A teacher is someone that imparts us with knowledge,wisdom and skill.Their instruction,and training gives us a new and better experience in our study and approach to life,their impart to knowledge and humanity is unquantifiable,may God bless them and reward them of their good fruits of their labour here on earth for heavens sake.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is respected in many circles as a great teacher because of the level of his profound influence during his days till date.Julius Nyerere,the former president of Tanzania was also revered by many of his countrymen as a great leader and teacher,they called him "Mwalimu”. A Swahili language word for "a great teacher",even the Africa first man of the millennium,former South African President Nelson Mandela is reverred by his tribal name of "Madiba",meaning a great leader and teacher.

Chief Oye Jegede is not a global phenomenon but he is a great teacher in the part of my world.He is a hero,a hero may not be a national or global icon but a star in somebody's sky that brighten and guide ones path.

1936 is very significant in the local calendar of Ijero district of the present Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State of Nigeria because it was the year of the first census in Ijero district (male adult only) and the celebration of odun Jubilee (50th year celebration of the signing of peace treaty at Kiriji(Ekitiparapo) War in 1886),the 1930s era also mark the begining of the Ekiti people awaken to western education as teachers,native pastors  and catechists  and more importantly at Ilukuno- Ekiti; Chief Joseph Oyelade Jegede,was born on January 2nd 1936  to the royal house of Eesalokuno of Ilukuno -Ekiti in Ijero district of Ekiti State, he would become a great teacher in his generation, a  Yoruba word that means "Oga Tisha”.

Chief Oye Jegede is an excellent teacher of almost five decades; a graduate of Yoruba Language from the premier University of Ibadan,the former Vice Principal Doherty Memorial Grammar School (DMGS) Ijero-Ekiti and the Principal of Community Secondary School,Ipoti-Ekiti until his retirement from civil service of old Ondo State in 1994 is an exemplary teacher of teachers and a builder of eternity.I am one of the students who drank from his fountain of knowledge and his influence has imparted myriads of Nigerian students and professionals directly and indirectly till today because a teacher is a nation builder and change agent in every generations.

There is no such person as a self-made man or individual,we owe most of our success in life to someone as a mentor,inspirer and influencer.This is where a teacher come to the fore as person who helped guide us toward success because of their profession,they teach to give their best so that their pupils and students could learn to give their best in their pursuits in life  whatever their callings and wherever their stations in life.

We all owe our good teachers a debt of gratitude,a debt we cannot repay till grave but to appreciate of our own humanity and benevolent spirit from time to time in prayer,expression of love in words and deeds to them and their fruits in our journeys of life as a generous and thankful mind ,as a philosopher once said:”I am,because they are”.A Yoruba adage says,”eniyan lo wa nidi oro ti oro fi nke.”(someone is behind a roaring masquerade as a masquerade mask has no voice of its own.) We are all like a criminal masquerading like a respectable good citizen if we do not value the contribution of our teachers to our personal and collective lives as a people and society.

Chief Jegede as a father,teacher,community leader, nation builder and christian statesman is a lover of his children,students,community,nation and God and this he shows through his acts of selfless service and spartan discipline.He wants the best for his students and he did not tolerates truancy,lateness and any acts of indiscipline from his students at Doherty College,Ijero in those days.

If any student misbehaved,he would correct him/her constructively with his good sense of humour unless such student proved to be adamant which could led to a  punitive stroke of cane. If you are a fellow that he knows your parent,you may not escape his humourous chastisement when he would tell you saying:”You cannot escape from my cane,Aba re(Your father) I know him,Eye re (Your mother) I know her ”.This he would say and make you feel his sense of humour with Yorujero(Yoruba Ijero) diction,a mixture of Ijero- Ekiti dialect and Lagos Yoruba  Language ,you would laugh tired and sit right as a student too because the grand old teacher know your father or mother at home.

There was a school morning when we came late to the school on a early resumption date in the september 1986  because some students would still be cutting grasses and keeping the school environment çlean,The VP(Vice Principal) Chief Jegede in his "Ijapa ori oda” as "Volkwagen beetle car” was called in our Ijero-Ekiti locality would drove round the town and bestrode the land like a colossus,his fear and image that loom our horizon typified wisdom and discipline.

That day, I saw him in his ocean blued volkswagen "tortoise motor” car ,I dodged him and ran away  with other latecomers to the school.The VP would later said at the assembly ground on the next morning that:"  I saw many latecomer students in the town yesterday,won rimi, won gbeu.”(They saw me,they ran away).The VP is a cultured man who is very versed in Yoruba culture,language and a native eloquent speaker of concentrared Ekiti dialect with English code mixing to make a sense of humour.We all love him till today as a promoter of values and our cultural heritage in our local parlance.

Before I entered Doherty,we heard of the  case of the boarding students at DMGS in the early 80's that protested to the school authority because they were given Eko(maize pap) served with vegetable soup for dinner as a result of scarcity of bread in the town due to auterity measure and inflation that affected the importation of wheat flour and other baking materials into the country then.The protesting students were chanting aluta song:”Ebi npa wa,awa o je eko,Oga Alabi o nfi ebi npa wa...”meaning:"We were very hungry,we didn´t want to eat maize pap,Mr.Alabi the school principal was starving us to death...”The protesters were throwing empty cans of milk and bourvita,using it as a cymbal to protest and press home their demand with a civil disobedience to the school authority in a non - violent way.

As the incidence was reported, it took the olive branch committee of the school management headed by the VP,Chief J.O.Jegede to pacified the rebellious boarding students.The great teacher would later turned the whole school incident to a laughing matter with his "Yorujero” diction :..."Eyin akekoo,won ni ki e je ori,eleyin o je ori,nigbati a wa ni sukuru nigba tiwa,ori ati efo wuruwuru ti won fi uru si ni a nje”...meaning:..."You students,you were requested to eat maize pap,you were defiant,during our school days,maize pap and vegetable stew savoured with locust beans was our favourite delicious menu...”

This is a measure of a man of peace with ability to calm the situation with his good temper which many of our school administrators and many leaders lack today.

It is interesting to note that locust beans, 'Iru' or ' Uru' in Ekiti local dialect is a sort of special spices used to add flavour to stew and vegetable soup,the Ilukuno -Ekiti people,the nativity of Chief Oye Jegede are the major producer and marketer of this processed soup

 seasoning brand till date in Ekiti State and indeed Nigeria.Our governments and local investors should site a Locust Beans and Food processing industry in this locality to boost the economic potential of the populace.

Ilukuno is also special in the history of Ekiti Kingdom because it is an ancient town full of wealth during its formative years.Ilukuno means 'the town that is full of riches',the founder of Ijero kingdom,Ajero Ogbe had his first habitation at Ilukuno while coming from Ile-Ife (the source) before he later resettled at the present site of Ijero-Ekiti.Ilukuno has a significant place in the history of Ijero Kingdom.

The Holy Bible reminds us through the psalmist that,"the days of our lives are seventy years;and if by reason of strenght they are eighty years...so teach us to number our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”Chief Oye Jegede is divinely blessed to attained the age  of divine strenght of eighty in our age when the average lifespan of a typical Nigerian is forty plus (40+) due to many unforeseen human,health and environmental factors.It takes God`ś power,protection,and provision to live long in this perilous times and I personally thank God for giving the Chief a robust health and a great sense of satisfaction at this fullness of age.

I also congratulate her heart throb and dear wife,Mrs.Jegede who clocks 70 and joins the septuagarian class which her dear hubby has just graduated from the very dawn of the year.I also convey my greetings to my friend and classmate of many years, the brilliant and elegant lady, Sade Jegede (now a wife and mother) and her siblings and the extended family of the Jegede's dynasty of Ilukuno-Ekiti

on the birthday of their lovely parents who are both teachers by their professional calling.May you the children, be greater than your dear parents and ancestors.

As the great teacher enters the class of the octogenarian,the winter of life which one should live with eternity in view steadily with a keen sense of the passage of time and work for something that will speak as a legacy.May God continue to uphold him to the end of this season of life.

Except for my parents,nobody I knew had been more interested in me and my academic progress as a school boy than my good teachers. Chief Jegede would be interested in your personal progress and cares about what happens to you as his student,this is what I experienced under his tutelage twice at Doherty College,Ijero-Ekiti and Community School,Ipoti-Ekiti.His humanity and influence is part of what made me what I am and admire him as a great reacher,father figure,inspirer and greathearted man.

Till eternity,I will remain thankful to my good teachers who influences me positively,the people whom God sent as angel investors into my academic life.

Chief Oye Jegede of Ilukuno-Ekiti is one grand old teacher like an oak tree,may God himself continue to be his presence,protection,peace,provision and power in his prolonged life.May God bless your posterity and may you finished well  in Jesus name.This is the happiness and heritage of those who trust in God.

Happy birthday to you sir at 80.You are our mentor,our inspirer and our influencer. A people you have not known shall celebrate your superlative greatness with their words in all generations.

To the generous mind the heaviest debt is that of gratitude.We will continue to pay a debt of gratitude to our great teacher for showing the light for us to find the way.Thank you sir,Chief Oye Jegede, our grand octogenarian teacher of the great school, Doherty memorial where," in Education lies the hope of our fatherland”, and our country as it is written in our that alma mater's motto: "In Liberis spes Patriae.”

There will never be a great nation and great people, great school and great scholars without great teachers. 'Good people,Great nation' and people of the world,I am opinionated that the dignity of the nation builders should be revisited and restored;Teachers should be accorded their rightful place in that our nation's jumbo wage, honour's roll and hall of fame before the heavens hallowed reward.   

This is when and where the influence of great teachers like Chief Oye Jegede will never stop ...

Hip,Hip,Hurrah! Happy Birthday to you sir! and please accept my token of deep appreciation and toast of humble tribute to you.

 Igba odun,odun kan ni o,Baba Jegede.

- Femi Alufa.CEO,Herald Edumedia Services,Lagos is a 1991 alumnus and Library Prefect of Doherty Memorial Grammar School,(DMGS)Ijero-Ekiti,Ekiti State.He can be contacted via e-mail:femialufa2011@gmail.com.