ALHAJI CHIEF (DR) WAHAB IYANDA FOLAWIYO

The Chairman - Yinka Folawiyo Group

Young Yinka Folawiyo left Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School with a good First School Leaving Certificate in 1941 to transit to Ilesa Grammar School, Ilesa, over two hundred Kilometres from Lagos.  He was actually admitted into C.M.S. Grammar School because most of his friends were in that school.  For instance Chief Sunny Dike Odogwu, who grew up with Chief Folawiyo at Olowogbowo was at Ilesa Grammar School at that time.  We recall here that Ilesa Grammar School was also attended by the former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande.  Besides, in Ilesa, which is Yinka Folawiyo’s grand-mother’s hometown, he would be at home as if he were in Lagos.  The Yoruba extended-family system, still very strong in those years, would ensue that.

Ilesa Grammar School was founded on 5th February, 1934 by the Egbe Atunluse known in English as Ijesa Improvement Union. It was a boys-only institution until 1965 when it welcomed its first set of girls.  The Principal of the School during young Yinka Folawiyo’s years was Rev. N.O.A. Lahanmi, a man of enviable resourcefulness.  So committed was he to making education available to as many as possible that, according to the current Principal, L.O. Bamkefa, he allowed a number of ‘Day Pupils’ who could not be accommodated in the school to attend classes from home.    And, significantly, that was done without any financial benefits accruing therefrom to himself.  A very strict disciplinarian, Rev. Lahanmi, as the Admission Register for those years shows, was officially ‘father’ to as many as 50 per cent of his pupils.

Ilesa Grammar School was an ideal training ground for character development.  Many of the teachers were old boys of St. Andrew’s College, Oyo and they replicated the military – like routine of their college at Ilesa Grammar School.  Students lived in with the various masters and moral training with emphasis on honesty and hard work was an essential part of the school’s education.  According to Chief Sunny Dike Odogwu, Ide Ahaba, another Nigerian entrepreneur who, as we have seen, also attended Ilesa Grammar School, the academic standard was high and challenging but the trip to Ilesa was always full of fun.  Typically, the pupils boarded the train at Iddo Terminus in Lagos and deboarded at Osogbo which is a short distance by road from Ilesa.  This was a time when the trains ran and were cheap to patronize.  Yinka Folawiyo went through the school without a hitch.  He finished in 1946, a year after the Second World War ended, with sound qualifications and a good testimonial.  He acquired, in addition, a high sense of reliability, self-discipline and an eagerness to be an achiever.  He was particularly good at football during his days at Ilesa.