OUR PIONEERS

Prince Samuel Adeleye Agbede

“Education is our passport to the future”

An Educational Scholarship fund can be a meaningful way to give back to our community.

The Prince Samuel Adeleye Agbede scholarship and Bursary Award Foundation programs are designed to encourage and support outstanding students who work hard and have financial need. Our scholarships provide financial assistance and academic support to high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. In addition to the monetary award, students join a thriving network of nearly 30 Prince Kolagbede Foundation Scholars.

Chief. Mrs. Esther Olayoonu Ijogun was the Pioneer Chairperson of Lt. Col. Samuel Adeleye Agbede Scholarship/ Bursary Awards Foundation.

Chief. Mrs. Esther Olayoonu Ijogun was the Pioneer Chairperson of Lt. Col. Samuel Adeleye Agbede Scholarship/ Bursary Awards Foundation. She was very instrumental in creating a workable structure for the Foundation at the early stage. She was born on 7th July, 1930 in Igbara-Oke, Ifedore Local Government. Ondo State. She started school in 1939, attended Teacher Training after her elementary training and obtained her Grade II and Grade IIl Teachers Certificate. She progressed to University of Ile-Ife, Osun State now called Obafemi Awolowo Ile-Ife for Associateship Diploma in Education.

She Started teaching in 1948 at Igbara-Oke St. Paul’s Anglican Primary School. She later went to Ile-Ife and taught in some schools before moving to Akure to continue her teaching career before retiring as a Headmistress in 1985. She thereafter served as a Court Judge Panel in Juvenile Court with Western Region at Akure and also with Ondo State when it was created in 1976 till 1980. She served as Board of Governors of Secondary Schools in Ondo State.

Chief Mrs. Ijogun was appointed as Counsellor, Idanre Ifedore Local Government in July 1986 where She served till October 1987 . She was later appointed as Acting Chairman of the same Local Government. She retired as the Chairperson of the Board of L.T. Col Adeleye Agbede Scholarship/ Bursary Awards Foundation in year 2015. She joined the service of the Lord as Layreader and subsequently became Diocesan Layreader. Chief Mrs. Ijogun was appointed as the Iya-Ijo of St. Paul’s Anglican Church Igbara-Oke. She is also the Life President of United Sisters Association founded in 1987. She is an active member of the following religious organisations, Mothers Union, Women’s Guild and She serves as the Matron of YMCA. She was happily married to Late Chief E. Ade Ijogun and they are blessed with successful children.

Profile of Prince Engr. William Akinlabi Agbede
He is the pioneer Vice Chairman of Prince Lt. Col. Samuel Adeleye Agbede Scholarship/Bursary Awards Foundation.

Prince Engr. William Akinlabi Agbede was the pioneer Vice Chairman of Prince Lt. Col. Samuel Adeleye Agbede Scholarship/Bursary Awards Foundation. He was instrumental to setting up a structure for the Foundation during the early stages of the Scheme.

The Foundation benefited immediately from his wealth of experience and his thorough knowledge of all Science subjects particularly during the interview stage of the application process.

He was born in Igbara-Oke, Ondo State on the 14th of February 1943. He attended St. Pauls Primary School, Igbara Oke (1949 – 1955) and later proceeded to Imade College Owo (1958 -1962) for his secondary school education. Between 1963 and 1966 he attended Post & Telegraph (P & T) School, Oshodi Lagos where he achieved his Grade Qualification, City & Guilds Full Technology Certificate in Communications. He went on to study Electrical Engineering at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (1967-1970) where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honours.

Immediately after completing University in 1970, he was employed as a Pupil Engineer with the Niger Dams Authority (NDA) Kainji – the first and only Hydro Power Station in the country at the time. He was responsible for the maintenance of the hydro-electric power generation, transmission and distribution equipment amongst other planning and operational responsibilities.

He attended a number of national & international courses including a three-and-a-half-month Hydro-Electric Power course in Japan in 1978, hosted by the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) and sponsored by the Japanese Government. Prince Engr. William Akinlabi Agbede served at various grades and locations in Nigeria with the now defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

His brilliance, work ethic and excellence in management saw him gain much recognition and was entrusted to take on very key roles – one of such was managing the National Control Centre (NCC) station in Osogbo which was responsible for monitoring and controlling the transmission network operations for the national grid. After 35 years of Service covering key positions across regions of the country, he retired in 1998 as the General Manager (GM) Transmission covering the North Eastern Region of Nigeria.

After retirement, Prince Engr. William Akinlabi Agbede settled in Lagos. He occupied himself with involvement in a number of volunteering activities including taking part and contributing to Church activities. In Lagos, he was an active member of the Church of Pentecost Anglican Communion FESTAC where he served as President of Christian Unity Band of Nigeria (CUBN) for 3 Years and was a member of the Young Christian Fellowship (YCF) as well. He also served as a Parish Church Council (PCC) member for 2 years. Prince Engr. William Akinlabi Agbede was a true indigene and frequently visited Igbara-Oke where he has a country home. He was known to be very passionate about the development of the town. He invested time and financial resources into several town-wide projects geared towards the advancement of the community. Similarly, he supported key initiatives run by St. Pauls and St. Timothy Anglican Churches in the town.