05: FASUYI’S GRASSROOTS INTERVENTIONS: AGROPRENEURSHIP, COVID-19 RELIEF AND ILARE-IJESA SUPPORT

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Leadership is not always measured by the size of a project or the amount of money committed to it. Sometimes, it is demonstrated by the ability to recognise a need, respond personally and mobilise others when the challenge requires collective action.

 

Asiwaju Olayinka Fasuyi’s 10-year service record in Ijesaland contains several examples of this grassroots approach—interventions that addressed economic empowerment, immediate humanitarian needs and community recovery following disaster.

 

The three milestones featured here span three different moments: the agropreneurship initiative of 2020, the COVID-19 relief response, and the Ilare-Ijesa rainstorm support of 2023. Together, they illustrate how personal commitment and community mobilisation were combined to respond to changing needs.

 

Agropreneurship: Investing in Ijesa Economic Capacity

 

The first intervention focused not on emergency relief, but on creating opportunities for sustainable livelihoods.

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In 2020, Fasuyi sponsored an agropreneurship and skills acquisition programme for 300 participants drawn from the six Local Government Areas of Ijesaland, in collaboration with the One Community, One Industry Initiative.

 

The programme sought to move participants beyond subsistence farming by exposing them to agriculture as a business and a potential source of self-employment, income generation, food production and wealth creation.

 

According to the compendium, Fasuyi personally bankrolled the strategic training programme.

 

The emphasis was therefore on building capacity rather than providing temporary assistance—equipping participants with knowledge and skills that could contribute to household livelihoods and local economic development.

 

It was an expression of vision: investing in people and their productive potential as part of a broader approach to community development.

 

COVID-19: Personal Relief in a Time of Crisis

 

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a different kind of challenge.

 

In 2020, movement restrictions and disruptions to economic activities placed additional pressure on households. At the grassroots level, Fasuyi personally provided food and other essential palliatives to 350 residents of Adebayo Abon/Farinloye Quarters in Ilesa.

 

The intervention was a direct response to immediate needs within his neighbourhood.

 

However, his involvement in the pandemic response went beyond this personal intervention. Fasuyi also mobilised patriotic Ijesa sons and daughters to respond to the wider humanitarian challenges created by the pandemic.

 

This distinction is important. While the palliatives distributed in Adebayo Abon/Farinloye Quarters were personally provided by Fasuyi, the broader COVID-19 response demonstrated his capacity to bring members of the Ijesa community together around a common humanitarian cause.

 

Here, leadership by example was combined with mobilisation and collective responsibility.

 

ILARE-IJESA DISASTER INTERVENTION: WHEN FASUYI MOBILISED IJESA UNITY

On Friday, 27 January 2023, tragedy struck Ilare-Ijesa in Obokun South Local Government Development Area of Osun State when a violent rainstorm swept through the community in a devastating 25-minute downpour around 6:00 p.m.

The storm wrecked no fewer than 100 houses and damaged several properties, including churches, shops, residential buildings and the police station. But the most devastating loss was the collapse of the community’s multimillion-naira Civic Centre, an ambitious self-help project undertaken by indigenes of Ilare under the Ilare Development Association (IDA).

The disaster left many families in anguish, with some victims rendered homeless. Yet, remarkably, no life was lost.

As news of the devastation spread, the Owalare of Ilare-Ijesa, Oba Adejoro Otebolaku, appealed for assistance for his people. The appeal, including the report published by KAKAKIOODUA Online News, drew the attention of the wider Ijesa community.

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE: FASUYI SHOWS UP

Touched by the scale of the disaster, Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi, did not wait for others to act.

On Sunday, 5 February 2023, he led a delegation comprising Chief Afolabi Igbaroola, Mr. Wale Idowu and Prince Seyi Lufadeju to Ilare-Ijesa for a sympathy visit and firsthand assessment of the damage, particularly the collapsed Civic Centre.

Received by the Owalare and the community leadership, Fasuyi conveyed the sympathy of His Imperial Majesty, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran II, and the entire Ijesa nation.

More importantly, he made a commitment that would become the foundation of the intervention: the people of Ijesaland would unite to support Ilare-Ijesa.

That response demonstrated leadership by example. Fasuyi moved beyond expressing sympathy to physically identifying with the victims and taking responsibility for mobilising a solution.

VISION: TURNING A LOCAL TRAGEDY INTO A COLLECTIVE IJESA RESPONSE

Fasuyi recognised that the scale of the damage required more than an individual donation. It called for the collective strength of Ijesa people at home and in the diaspora.

Through the Ijesa Communities Development Assembly (ICDA) platform under the Chairmanship of Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi, who initiated the Ilare-Ijesa Support Fund while appealing to royal fathers, Ijesa compatriots, societies, clubs and other people of goodwill to contribute towards the recovery effort.

The appeal transformed a local disaster into a wider demonstration of Ijesa solidarity.

Within three weeks, the initiative attracted more than ₦16.6 million in contributions. The money was specifically committed to reconstructing the damaged Community Civic Centre.

The intervention therefore went beyond emergency sympathy. It provided a mechanism through which the wider Ijesa community could respond collectively to a crisis affecting one of its communities.

INTEGRITY: A CLEAR PURPOSE FOR THE FUNDS

A significant feature of the intervention was the clarity of its purpose.

The funds raised were directed specifically towards the reconstruction of the Ilare-Ijesa Community Civic Centre. The contribution was not presented as a general pool without a defined objective; it was tied to a specific community asset devastated by the storm.

This clarity helped give contributors confidence that their sacrifices were being channelled towards the identified need.

TRANSPARENCY: DOCUMENTING THE CONTRIBUTIONS AND THE RESPONSE

The intervention also reflected the importance of transparency in collective community action.

Contributions from Ijesa individuals, groups and organisations were recorded and acknowledged, while the eventual presentation of the funds provided a public account of the community’s response.

At the presentation ceremony held at the Owa Obokun Adimula Palace, the amount raised for the Civic Centre reconstruction was formally presented in the presence of the Paramount Ruler of Ijesaland, traditional rulers, community leaders and representatives of Ilare-Ijesa.

The ceremony made the intervention a public demonstration of what collective sacrifice could achieve.

ACCOUNTABILITY: FROM APPEAL TO ACTION

The Ilare-Ijesa intervention did not end with a public appeal.

Fasuyi and the Ijesa leaders involved followed the process from the initial assessment of the disaster through mobilisation and the presentation of the funds for the identified reconstruction need.

His message at the palace captured the larger significance of the exercise:

“Though we may be geographically classified as Ijesa Central, Ijesa North and Ijesa South, the blood in our vein is that of Ijesa.”

 

The intervention became more than assistance to a storm-ravaged community. It became a practical demonstration of the belief that the six LGAs and different geographical sections of Ijesaland could act as one in times of need.

FROM DISASTER TO A DEMONSTRATION OF IJESA UNITY

The Ilare-Ijesa disaster therefore became one of the defining examples of Asiwaju Yinka Fasuyi’s approach to community leadership: respond personally, identify the need, mobilise the collective strength of the people, define the purpose of the intervention, and ensure that the process remains visible and accountable.

The chronology is significant. The storm struck on 27 January 2023. The community appealed for help. Fasuyi visited Ilare-Ijesa on 5 February to assess the damage and rally support. The Ilare-Ijesa Support Fund was subsequently activated, and within three weeks, contributions exceeding ₦16.6 million were mobilised for the reconstruction of the Civic Centre.

What began as a devastating natural disaster consequently became an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of Ijesa solidarity.

For Fasuyi, the lesson was clear: leadership is not only about what one can personally provide; it is also about the ability to unite people around a worthy cause and turn collective goodwill into measurable action.

From Personal Commitment to Collective Action

The three interventions reveal different but complementary dimensions of Fasuyi’s documented approach to grassroots development.

 

The agropreneurship programme represented investment in long-term economic capacity. The COVID-19 palliatives demonstrated personal intervention in response to immediate hardship, while the wider pandemic response and Ilare-Ijesa relief effort showed the capacity to mobilise collective action.

 

Running through the three milestones are the five principles associated with Fasuyi’s decade of service: leadership by example, vision, integrity, transparency and accountability.

 

Leadership by example was reflected in his personal sponsorship of the agropreneurship programme and direct provision of COVID-19 relief. Vision was evident in the emphasis on skills, enterprise and economic capacity. Integrity was reflected in the focus on identified community needs, while transparency and accountability were strengthened through the documentation, acknowledgement and communication of contributions, particularly in the Ilare-Ijesa relief effort.

 

The chronology also tells a broader story.

 

In 2020, the focus was on equipping people with productive skills and responding personally to the hardship created by a global pandemic. By 2023, the emphasis had expanded to mobilising the collective strength of Ijesas to support a community struck by disaster.

 

Together, the interventions form part of a wider 10-year record spanning education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, electricity, youth empowerment, economic development, disaster response and community development.

 

They present a model of grassroots leadership that combines personal responsibility with collective action—responding to immediate needs while investing in the capacity, resilience and wellbeing of Ijesaland communities.