The day dawned particularly brightly on January 28, 2017, for the members of
Ilorin Emirate Youths Development Association (IEYDA).
As they gathered at the Palace of the Emir of Ilorin for the 2017
Empowerment Programme of their association, everything seemed normal on the surface.
However, one guest’s appearance at the event heralded the unusual for all
that were in attendance. The Special Adviser to the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki on Intra-Parliamentary Relations, Protocol Matters and Special Duties, Hon. Mashood Mustapha (fondly called MM) was the guest; the beneficiaries of the unusual gesture were students.
It was an amazing moment when MM announced his intention to be funding
the education of two students from secondary school to university level annually, starting from this year 2017. Two beneficiaries will be selected annually from the members of Ilorin Emirate Youths Development Association (IEYDA).
Excitement of the people who were in attendance on the lifetime gesture
peaked when he brought out a sum of One Hundred Thousand Naira to fund the acquisition of Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and preparatory classes for the two maiden beneficiaries of the award.
Those who know him sufficiently attest to the fact that education, which is the
bedrock of development and the best legacy a leader can bestow on his people, has
always been the biggest priority of MM.
It is on record that as a believer in education and human capacity development, he had hundreds of home and abroad scholarship students, empowerment and career job beneficiaries during his tenure as representative of Asa/Ilorin West Federal Constituency at the seventy House of Representatives, Abuja and as an aide to the Senate President.
Some of those scholarship beneficiaries are still studying in some European
countries till the moment.
It is also an important educational achievement to count that Hon. Mashood Mustapha ICT Centre located at Hiwanu LGEA School, Kuntu Ilorin, has been catering for not only the people of Asa/Ilorin West but entire indigents of Ilorin Emirate since 2013, in terms of free internet services, computer training, online registration, CBT training and so on at “NO COST”. The centre has trained more than a thousand Kwarans on computer literacy.
As a pride of Ilorin Emirate who is keenly interested in the development of his
town through industrial and infrastructural development, he took time to pay homage to the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, in his palace where the Emir prayed earnestly for him immediately after the empowerment programme.
