Olowu, Oba Matemilola Offers Educational Support To 1,427 Students, Unveils Plan On Expansion of Free Studies Centres in Ogun

The Olowu of Owu-Kingdom, Oba (Prof.) Saka Adelola Matemilola says 1,427 students across different levels of education are benefiting from the Olowu Hope Initiative (OHI) just, as the initiative empowered another 287 entrepreneurs, including artisans and young people through skills acquisition, vocational training and enterprise support programmes 

Also OHI in collaboration with Mouka Limited, Zakat and Sadaqah foundation, Coursera , Junior Chamber International JCI Rockcity and Islamic Financial Institutions in first quarter of 2026 implemented impactful programmes that reached over 12, 606 beneficiaries 

Oba Matemilola speaking on Monday during a press conference held at his Oke Ago-Owu Palace in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, as part of activities marking the fourth anniversary of his coronation as Olowu, also revealed that N20 million was disbursed as scholarships to settle payment of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME and West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination WASSCE fees for 397 students 

The programme according to him, now maintains over 600 active scholars with a clear pathway to scale to 1,000 students by mid-year of 2027 

The monarch added that the OHI currently runs the three tuition free studies centers included African Church Grammar, Ita-Iyalode- Ita Eko, Baptist Girls' College Idi-Aba and Aderinle School for scholars in Ifo and its environs , revealing plans to establish similar two centre each in both Ewekoro and Odeda for more students in final year at the Senior Secondary School level to benefit from the initiative 

Oba Matemilola stated that the initiative also encouraged digital inclusion for students with 650 Coursera licenses secured through a N390 million grant for students to benefit from online courses from tertiary institutions including University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta FUNAAB and Ben University of Science and Technology, Ota, University of Benin, Crescent University, Abeokuta and Federal College of Education 

He added that the mentorship programme for the Olowu scholars involving 15 mentors drawn from various professions, has continued to enjoy more subscriptions 

Oba Matemilola described the intervention of OHI at Daniel Akintonde Model School for Children with Special Needs in Abeokuta, as most defining , with the provision of building for teachers and proposed multiple building for head teacher to make leaning environment more conducive 

The monarch equally expressed the commitment of OHI to the school free meal per day initiative, saying 8,662 meals were served to an average of 165 pupils daily at Oke Ago Owu Primary School with total cost put at N1.73 million averaging N200 per meal 

In the health sector, Olowu announced the completion of renovation and equipping of Igosun Health Centre , Oke Ago -Owu, successful completion of 540 eye surgeries and 388 general consultations , saying Memoranda of Understanding have been submitted for the renovation of three Primary Health Centres 

Enterprise and Skills Development equally received support as OHI empowered 287 entrepreneurs including artisans and young people through skills acquisition, vocational training and enterprise support while various environmental sustainability boreholes that benefit 80,000 people daily were also implemented which included 4; boreholes in various communities in Abeokuta and Ado-Odo

Those at the Olowu's palace included members of traditional council and chiefs and religious leaders