The President of the Club Mr Habeeb Bankole made the appeal during the celebration of 10th anniversary of the club held at IBD hotel, Abeokuta.
Habeeb reiterated that the state government should revive the state owned Polytechnic in Ipokia adding that there are no tertiary in that axis.
According to him" we are very close to boarder, also we all know that presently in life you have to take education a priority , and in Ipokia local government axis , there's no higher institution and we have to travel a very far kilometer .
"We need an higher institution so that different people will mixed together , people will come in different part of the world to study in Nigeria.
"We want the school back because if you aren't educated, you will undoubtedly become disfigured. We need a higher institution in that location to change the mindset of the populace and show them that doing smuggling on your own is not a prerequisite for success in life. People in this area will belt up as well when they notice people traveling from far away to learn.
He therefore appealed to the state government to bring back the institution saying that with the higher institution the issue of smuggling in the community will be a thing of the past.
While delivering his lecture titled" COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPACTFUL ROLES OF CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT" the guest lecturer of the event who is also a lecturer of the department of Mass Communication Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta Dr Shola Adeosun explained that for a community to grow and develop, the aspirations, needs and goals of the people must be addressed and properly harnessed.
Adeosun added that concept of community development gradually evolved when it was observed that government at all levels cannot provide as at when due all the basic needs and requirement of every community simultaneously.
He said the idea of waiting for the government to attend and provide community needs can no longer be guaranteed.
His words " the factors responsible for inability of government to meet the developmental needs of communities were due to many factors such as paucity of funds, prioritization of government developmental commitments, and more importantly political influence, political instability, and resource constraints and also the general absence of other complementing facilities or infrastructure.
"Any of these or a combination of it may deprive a community of accessing or acquiring some major facility, amenity or need to the locality for use. To redress the lopsidedeness or general absence of certain infrastructure and facility, communities have come together through various associations, clubs or group sharing equal and same values towards ensuring that basic infrastructure and amenities are attracted to their communities in other to redress general Infrastructure decline noticeable in their community.
"Various clubs, associations and groups have responded in one form or the other to providing critical needs as intervention in their community rather than waiting for government to come to their aid or rescue. Moreover, it becomes more expedient for communities development based associations, clubs and groups coming together to accelerate rapid development of their communities without necessarily waiting for government.
"It is therefore important to state that the gradual emergence of clubs and associations in community development requirements can be seen as an interventionist tendency which is an urgent desire to fast track infrastructure provision and social development of their community thereby complementing government infrastructural presence in such community.
"The Sportlight Club can be seen as a social group of great and enthusiastic like minds coming together for the singular purpose of promoting accelerated community development effort".
Dr Adeosun urged the members of the club to ensure that the feeling or spirit of community is not destroyed.
" Whenever we want to help a community develop; the material or the subject matter of their development must be such that meets the desire of the whole community. Hence we need to prioritized their wants, and not a misplaced wants generally".
