By Temitope Muhideen (Convydence)

MOK Foundation was founded in 2023 by QS Muhydeen Okunlola Kayode, the foundation has touched the lives of many people positively, most especially the people of Kwara State Senatorial District, in this interview with the Publisher of Confidence News Nigeria, the Director of MOK Foundation Mr Lawal Temitope Saheed while speaking on behalf of the founder Alh. Muhydeen Okunlola Kayode narrated the concept and ideas of the foundation.

Good morning sir, can we meet you? 

My name is Lawal Temitope a staff of Lens Polytechnic Offa, I am the director of MOK Foundation under the leadership of our principal Alh. Muhydeen Okunlola Kayode 

What is the vision of the Foundation?

In short, we have a vision to serve humanity in all aspects of human endeavors (education, business, sport, etc), and over time we have touched all the important aspects of humans. 

In the last one year, your foundation has embarked on various programs, ranging from empowerment to solar light, cash for market women, and payment of school fees, Is there a model of operation? 

As I have said earlier, the MOK foundation is solely independent, the funding of the foundation is provided by the founder QS Muhydeen Okunlola Kayode. You will recall that we started this Foundation with the distribution of foodstuff to the underprivileged and in our first phase we reached over 4000 beneficiaries since then all our activities have been transparent, and recently we gave 130 students free WAEC, it was friends and families free, we took the form to various secondary schools in Offa and Oyun LGA, we gave them requirements, the students must be brilliant and be underprivileged. The assertions going around that we gave the free scholarship to families and friends are not true, I even announced on our weekly program that anyone who knows a beneficiary who happens to be my family member would get twenty thousand naira from me. 

What other projects have been carried out by your Foundation?

For instance, our empowerment programs differ, we have a cooperative plan for traders, and we have been giving out interest-free loans to local traders, if we give you a hundred thousand naira, you are to pay back a hundred thousand naira with zero interest at your convenience, and we don’t know most of them. In the health sector, we have partnered with about seven hospitals in Offa and Oyun LGA, and we have settled many bills on behalf of various people, we have been supporting people who have been placed on dialysis in the partnered hospitals. In Agriculture, when you are coming in, you can see tractors parked outside, MOK is not a farmer, it’s for the people, the tractors have been used for farmers in Offa, Igosun, Ilemona, and its environs without charging anyone a kobo.

Can you tell us two major projects that the MOK Foundation has embarked on in the last year? 

Well, I will not limit it to two, because all our projects have been big. In securing the cables on our transformers, we donated solar lights to almost all transformers in Offa town, I said all because I have mentioned on our weekly radio program that any transformer that is yet to get our solar light, the people should just walk into our office to make a request, we will follow them immediately and get it fixed in an hour, from our records we have given solar light to over 100 transformers in Offa to curb the issue of cable vandalism. Again, the WAEC scholarship is another landmark project, we all know how difficult it is to raise money in this country, a principal told me that if not for our intervention, his school may have not been able to write this year WAEC because the majority of the students weren’t able to get the money, another important one is the payment of Jamb fee for 250 students,  that’s huge. 

Most of these things have not been done in our community before, we have to make sure it cuts across the nooks and crannies of Offa, Oyun, and its environs, and regarding the empowerment, we started it here in our office three months ago, with a target of two thousand beneficiaries, as I speak, we have reached one thousand eight hundred beneficiaries within a few months, and the least we give anyone is 10000 naira, we have people we give fifty thousand nairas, not to talk of individuals we gave five hundred nairas, one million nairas and so on, social media is our reference, just type MOK on any platform, you will gather more than enough testimonies. 

There are reports that MOK is planning to contest the 2027 election, what can you say about this?

Well, as a Nigerian, he has the right to vote and be voted for, but as I have said earlier, we are running a foundation, so I can’t decide for MOK, he knows the best thing for himself, we have heard different things too, someone is using his money to impact lives yet they are criticizing, for now, we are focused on our Foundation and the betterment of the lives of the ordinary, the political question is left for Alh Muhydeen to answer. We are committed to uplifting people, and giving back to the community where MOK grew up, that’s more important to us now than ever. 

You are closer to MOK, has he discussed his political ambition with you? 

Well, anyone can serve humanity, that decision is left to him, not me, the question is not for me. 

Your advice to the beneficiaries of your various programs?

They should make good use of the opportunity, they should excel, that’s the one way they can show appreciation, to the students, they should perform excellently, for instance, the solar light donated to transformers has reduced cable vandalism, the students should sit tight so that MOK can feel fulfilled, to the beneficiaries of our empowerment, they should use the money for the purpose not buying of cloths and partying.

What is your message for rich sons and daughters of this community and Kwara at large? 

They should remember their root, they should come back home and impact the lives of the ordinary 

You are aware of the story of a certain Naje who spent money on people of this community a few years ago, is there a correlation between MOK and Naje? 

Hmm Naje, what MOK has been doing, a lot is not even online because of the mutuality between MOK and the beneficiary, I have heard people comparing the two, what MOK is doing is different, we have touched all parts of the human endeavor, and we are serving humanity, the only things I could remember about Naje is sharing exercise books, his mission is more political because it happens during the electioneering process, his direct beneficiaries were politicians, MOK is serving humanity as I speak, everything we dish out is in response to humanity, can anyone tell me Naje’s efforts in security, agriculture, health, etc. I am

Not too small, our recent investment in education scholarships has never happened in the history of this town, is that what people want to compare to Naje’s political giveaway?  I have never once seen anyone that will say what MOK is doing isn’t real, because there are living testimonies.

What should the people of Kwara expect from the Foundation in years to come? 

We have started well this year, we are just getting set, we are financing all these projects with his personal money, and we are coming better and stronger. 

Temitope Muhideen is the publisher of Confidence News Nigeria, a member of Greenfield Library Limited, Atlanta Georgia USA.