When Leadership Becomes Responsibility: Yejide Ogundipe’s Growing Footprints in her community

Hon. Yejide Ogundipe, Esq., Senior Special Assistance to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on Food Security, is proving that leadership is not measured only by the office one occupies, but by the lives one touches and the opportunities one creates.

In Okeigbo, her footprints are increasingly becoming visible across education, food security, community development and grassroots engagement. Her approach appears anchored on a simple principle: when leadership becomes a responsibility rather than a privilege, the dividends travel far beyond the individual.

One of the latest examples is her intervention in the education of 10 indigent but brilliant students drawn from five secondary schools in Okeigbo. Identifying financial hardship as one of the obstacles capable of frustrating the education of promising young people, Ogundipe stepped in to pay ₦50,000 each for their school fees and other payable charges.

The beneficiaries are Gbeyide Olalegan (JSS 2) and Abimbola Omobolaji (SSS 1) of Okeigbo Grammar School; Oyetoro Abubakar Oyewale (SS 1) and Olajide Rukayat Morenikeji (JSS 2) of Community High School, Oloruntele; Ajomale Tunmise (JSS 2) and Farotade Mariam (SSS 1) of Oloroke Grammar School; Omotunde Moses (JSS 2) and Abubakre Abeeb (SSS 1) of Fagunwa Memorial High School; and Friday Ogadima (JSS 2) and Suara Nafisat (SSS 1) of Community Comprehensive High School, Idiroko, Okeigbo.

The gesture sits comfortably within the broader Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly its emphasis on human capital development, food security and improving opportunities for Nigerians. As a Senior Special Assistant on Food Security, Ogundipe has also been associated with interventions involving trailers of rice and maize, bringing food-support initiatives closer to communities where they are needed.

But the story does not end at food on the table. Her community interventions have also included the provision and facilitation of 1,000 solar street lights, adding another layer to efforts aimed at improving the environment and supporting community development.

There is also a political dimension to her grassroots engagement, with Ogundipe having supported and influenced APC structures through various interventions. The combination of political organisation and community-oriented activities has made her engagements extend beyond the conventional boundaries of political office.

Indeed, leadership is sometimes best understood not from the height of the office, but from the depth of its impact. A street light may brighten a road; food support may ease a household’s burden; political organisation may strengthen a structure; but helping a child remain in school can potentially alter an entire life’s trajectory.

One of the principals of the beneficiary schools, Mrs. Oloyede Ruth, a seasoned teacher, expressed appreciation for Ogundipe’s continued support for the growth and development of the community. Her commendation reflects the broader value attached to interventions that place people and their future at the centre.

The 10 students may not have asked for much—only an opportunity to continue their education without financial pressure. But sometimes, as the saying goes, a little opening is all a determined person needs to find the road to tomorrow.

For Otunba Ogundipe, the message is simple: become the person who creates an environment for others to grow and in Okeigbo, that message is increasingly being translated from words into action.The initiative was coordinated by Hon. Kolawole Adesiyan and Dr. A. A. Faremi.