Oba Nojeemdeen Oladele Odugbemi, the Olu of Lisa kingdom in Ifo local government area of Ogun state clocks 66 today.
Lisa, a community placed on a global world map as a result of the Bellview Flight 210, which crash landed in Lisa on October, 22nd, 2005.
Yesterday (Sunday) commemorated the eighteenth anniversary of an act of fate that buried alive 117 men and women, young and old, inside the bowels of the soil at Lisa village.
People from all walks of life visited Lisa, including victims’ families, members of the aviation industry, and government officials, including then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Since then, it has been transformed beyond the village setting alongside the villages around it. It is just a case of the dead impacting life on the living and the victims were given symbolic mass burial and construction of an arcade at the site with the names of all the victims inscribed on the concrete.
After 18 years of construction, the road has degenerated into a deadly trap that prevented the Lisa arcade from being a major destination for tourists due to its poor condition.
Ijoko’s access route to Lisa was impassable and became a hassle. President Obasanjo had ordered the federal government to build the road from Ijoko to Lisa, but it was ultimately completed by OGROMA, a road maintenance organization run by Governor Gbenga Daniel, in a hasty and subpar manner that would not withstand the test of time.
Since that ill-fated plane crash, residents have been pleading to both the federal and state governments to come to their aid by reconstructing the road so as to enable families of the fallen heroes have access to the arcade where their loved ones were buried alive.
Prior to October 22, 2005, Lisa’s village was unknown to anyone outside of the local administration of Ifo, and the area around that axis hardly existed and received any official attention.
Today, Lisa with a recognized traditional head, and the towns surrounding it are now semi-urban areas, thanks in large part to the exposure provided by the plane crash.
On July 16, 2006, he ascended the throne of his forebears as Baale of Lisa and was installed by Alake and paramount monarch of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo. He was later raised to Oba in 2019 by the state government in order to bring succour to his subjects.
Oba Odugbemi, as Baale of Lisa, transformed the village from an ancient clan to an urban town by providing many of the fundamental amenities that people want in metropolitan settings, such as markets, health care services, schools, security posts like as police stations, and safe offices, among other things.
Along with giving the community’s residents a deeper sense of purpose, Olu of Lisa, who is 66 years old today, established a foundation to support schoolchildren through scholarships, cash for the elderly, and assistance for widows.
With a deep love for his people, he always made sure that any government action took place in Lisa rather than requiring effort to travel beyond the neighbourhood. Such interventions like NIN registration was done in the town by moving staff of NIN to Lisa amongst others.
According to Oba Nojeemdeen Oladele Odugbemi, the actual construction of the road from Ijoko to Lisa will undoubtedly spur economic growth in Ogun State.
He therefore urged the state’s administration, led by Prince Dapo Abiodun, to take advantage of the opportunity to extend the Lagos-Abeokuta motorway construction to the communities of Ijoko and Lisa.
In honor of his 66th birthday, the kaabiyesi made a promise to utilize the remaining days of his life to transform Lisa town from a semi-urban area into a full-fledged urban area with more impactful amenities and also use his closeness to the government to bring rapid development to Lisa town.
