Despite his physical disability, Mr Olusegun Olasunkanmi Adeyemi, a 42-year-old Business Administration student of the Mashood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Abeokuta, Ogun State, is one Nigerian defying the odds and his deformity to pursue his goal.
Adeyemi, seated, would pass for a contestant in an athletics competition. But on his feet, he walks with the aid of a stick supported by his left hand, moving at a snail’s pace.
“I was not born like this”, he told Eko Trust at the head office of Omo Ilu Foundation at Ijebu-Igbo, Ijebu-North Local Government, Ogun State, where he had gone to solicit for financial help to pay his tuition fee.
Adeyemi, who is also an Administrative Officer at Reverend Kuti Memorial Grammar School, Isabo, Abeokuta, told our correspondent how “poor injection” administered on him for the treatment of measles paralyzed his legs.
“I was born hale and hearty back in the mid-1970s. But I got this polio disease called measles. I was taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, by my parents. But an injection carelessly administered on me somehow resulted into paralysis of the leg. I even thank God that it’s only my legs. Some became deaf, while some other people’s mental ability does not run normal arising from injections wrongly administered. I just thank God that it does not disturb nor affect my mental ability,” he said.
According to him, his mental balance has kept him going and he would stop at nothing to achieve his goal in life.
The student intends to become a lecturer in Business Administration to impact on the lives of the youth.
“My ambition is to impact greatly on the lives of Nigerian youths in particular by becoming a lecturer in Business Administration. I am so dogged about it and I am praying to God to help me scale through.
“If I don’t get to such my desired level, it means I am not fulfilled in life,” he said.
On his advice to those battling physical challenges, he remarked, “My advice to people both old and young having any form of physical challenges is that first, they should not let physical challenges weigh them down. And in each passing day, they should take God first
in their undertakings, be stronger and wiser to face their daily challenges. I bet you someway somehow somebody will come to their assistance.”
Adeyemi told our correspondent that he had spent three days in the premises of Omo Ilu Foundation, owned by Senator Buruji Kashamu, to seek assistance to pay his tuition fee, which he put at N56,000.
According to him, his predicament caught the attention of the state coordinator of the Foundation, Mr Adeleke Shittu, who took his matter up. Kashamu later approved for him N76,000 for the tuition fee and a new wheel chair to aid his movement.
He explained further, “I have been around in the premises for about three days trying to make sure I get a listening ear to my plight. In the first instance, I came for my school fees, and again, I needed something to aid my movement here and there. So I need a wheelchair. If I get one, I may choose to use it and atimes I may choose not to, depending the distance I intend to go.”
He expressed his appreciation to Kashamu on the gesture, urging other Nigerians to toe the path of lifting the less-privileged in the society.
Shittu told Eko Trust that the Foundation, for more than 15 years, had been assisting the less-privileged in Nigeria, with its gestures not limited to Ogun State.
“Ordinarily, he requested for his school fees, which was about N56,000. But the founder of the Foundation in his magnanimity thought it wise to approve for him about N76,000 and a wheelchair, which cost about N250,000,” the coordinator said.
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