Olusoga Sofolahan Father of modern day Scouting in Nigeria

Scout Leaders Eulogize Late Chief Scout, affirm status as progenitor of modern day scouting in Nigeria.

Notable Scout leaders across the country have described the late chief scout of Nigeria, Olori Omoba Olusoga Sofolahan, LT, DCC, FCE,Ph.D as the father of modern day Scouting in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by various national leaders who spoke at different times during the funeral events marking the exit of the country’s Chief Scout.

Olusoga who passed away a month ago after a brief illness is widely acknowledged for his modernisation of the country’s scouting from post colonial to level up with global scouting trends.

His frequent international engagements and exposure to global scout conferences and training was said to have inspired Olusoga with the vision to bring Nigeria Scouting to the center of modernisation.

Olusoga’s willingness to domesticate global scouting policy and priorities whilst pursuing their continued implementation was said to have transformed the country’s scouting to compete globally as one of WOSM’s largest market shares.

It’s noted that Olusoga as Chief Commissioner stewarded the first ever global support assessment tool, GSAT implementation in the country which led to the formulation of major policies in various strategic areas.

Speaking during the camp fire ceremony held in Ondo State, the country’s national executive Commissioner , Solomon Etim described Olusoga as the father of modern day Scouting attributing major developments to Soga’s visionary leadership.

He added that the advent of Soga ended era of fall like log of wood and corporal punishment in scouting through the promotion of safe from harm policy. Solomon, a former WOSM intern Eulogized Olusoga as the brain behind the success of scouting in Nigeria.

Also commenting on Olusoga’s life and times, a member of the West Africa Scout Committee and the Coordinator of youth Program in West Africa, Raji Bomodeoku, a close associate of the late Chief Scout praised Olusoga as an intellectual force whose ingenuity paved the way for the information era in Nigeria Scouting.

Raji recalled the initiatives propagated by Soga which he said were dated back to 2010. He was quoted to have said as far back as 2011, I was at an adult in a scouting workshop with the Late CS in Onitsha, Anambra where we created the institutional framework for AIS in seascouting. Raji noted that Soga was the first person to standardize the seascouting curriculum and that is what we use till today with just a little modification. He added that Soga’s participation in conferences inspired him greatly to lead the path of change for the association.

Raji said that the late Chief Scout was part of the first set of people trained on Global Support Assessment Tool, GSAT after it was first passed by the 39th World Scout Conference in Curitiba, Brazil in 2011. The tool was first deployed in Africa during the African Scout Conference in Lounda, Angola where Soga was part of Nigerian delegation with Captain Farouk Musa. Raji continued adding that Soga took part in the training and also attended the 40th World Scout Conference in Slovenia, where the tool was finally approved for global use.

Raji added that Soga was a big proponent of continuing education and was solely responsible for the success of himself, Solomon Etim, Kenneth Geoffrey,Igbosotu Kelvin, Idowu Samson,Sharon Akidi, Gana Kadir ,Omodot Umoh and several others who were under Olusoga’s tutelage. Raji noted that Soga defended the integrity of the association’s policy and promoted accountability in governance.

He also attributed the most recent population census of the association to the Late Chief Scout who first pioneered the population enumeration of the association in line with vision 2023.

Speaking also during the camp fire ceremony, a former Chairman of Nigeria Scout Youth Forum, Igbosotu Kelvin lauded Soga’s achievement, describing his passing as collosal and irreplaceable. Sotu noted that Soga was the oxygen powering Scouting in Nigeria and his demise will leave a big gap, he described Soga as a scouting pundit whose work uplifted scouting by ushering an era noted for most scouting growth particularly for the youth forum growth in the country.

Speaking from United Kingdom, Mr. Kenneth Geoffrey, a former associate of late Chief Scout eulogized Olusoga as a cerebral scout leader who transformed lives of many through scouting education. Kenneth who shared memories of his several foreign trips with the late Chief Scout noted that the late Chief Scout was a lovable person and an exemplary personality who promoted a culture of integrity and accountability in the association.

TSAN Media Team

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