WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT OF ILORIN EMIRATE DESCENDANTS PROGRESSIVE UNION (IEDPU), ALHAJI ABDULMUMINI AYO ABDULMALIK (ACG RTD), DURING MALLAM (PROF.) YUSUF OLAOLU ALI FOUNDATION, ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

Date: 1st October, 2025

Courtesies,

BismiLLahi Rahmani Rohiim,

On behalf of our Royal Father, Mai-martaba Serikin Ilori, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, and the entire Ilorin Emirate Community, I am particularly happy and delighted to welcome you all to this very important event. Beyond the duty of welcoming you, I am very pleased to be the one to thank and appreciate our dearest bother, Mallam (Prof.) Yusuf Olaolu Ali, SAN, Kuliyan Ngeri of Ilorin, for his contributions towards enhancing education in the Emirate in particular and humanity in general.

Sometimes in August this year, we exchanged messages whereby he reminded me that this year’s Scholarship Award was due and uppermost in his mind but when I told him I was out of the country and suggested he should go ahead with the support of my able executives, he declined; thereby giving me this privilege to be the one to once again express the community’s appreciation for his regular interventions particularly on education.

Considering where we are today in this country, it is delighted to find our own Kuliyan Ngeri among the few patriots who have regularly been supporting poor parents with brilliant wards to achieve quality education. May Allah continue to reward him and others like him accordingly.

More often than not, education has been defined differently but the sum total of education is that it is a veritable tool of development of man and society. Thus, with good education, our society is sure to be transformed for better.

It is therefore on this note that I call upon the beneficiaries to make sure that they take good advantage of this opportunity by facing their studies squarely. Parents of the beneficiaries are also advised to monitor their wards to ensure good results from this opportunity.

I also wish to call on other well-to-do members of our community to emulate the kind gesture of Mallam (Prof.) Yusuf Olaolu Ali.

Once again, I welcome you all and sincerely pray that we have a successful event.