For three years, Ridwan Bolaji’s biggest classroom was the rocky steps of Olumo Rock in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
At 15, he was not holding textbooks. He was holding a camera, snapping pictures of tourists for whatever they could spare. School fees had become a dream his family could no longer afford after he finished primary school in July 2023.
Last week, that same camera became his ticket back to school.
It happened during “Olumo 2026,” the annual week of the Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, in Ogun State. Ridwan was working the crowd, offering to take photos, when his confidence caught the eye of DSP Oluseyi B. Babaseyi, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer.
The PPRO wasn’t just looking for a good picture. He asked the boy a question: “Why are you not in school?”
The answer broke the moment. Poverty had pulled Ridwan out of Ijaye Community Nursery and Primary School, Gbangba, after primary six. He had tried learning barbering but couldn’t finish. Photography at Olumo was what was left.
Moved, DSP Babaseyi made a promise on the spot: he would personally ensure Ridwan returned to the classroom.
What started as one man’s compassion quickly became a community’s mission.
Word spread fast among PCRC leaders who were at the event representing the Commissioner of Police, CP Bode Ojajuni.
And defore the day ended, pledges started rolling in.
The National Safe School Club Project donated ₦200,000. PCRC South-West gave ₦50,000. Zone 2 Chairman contributed ₦100,000. The Ogun State PCRC added ₦50,000. The Chief of Staff to the PCRC National Chairman, on behalf of all Special Advisers, gave ₦100,000. Pastor Olanrewaju Joshua and his team added ₦25,000 more.
In total, ₦525,000 was announced for Ridwan’s education. Individual members also dropped cash to support him and his mother.
Then came the biggest pledge: PCRC National Chairman, Alhaji Mogaji Ibrahim Olaniyan, promised to pay Ridwan’s second-term school fees.
For Ridwan’s mother, the weight of three years lifted in an instant. She broke down in tears.
“I never thought I would see this day,” she said, praying for everyone who remembered her son.
To the police and PCRC, this was not charity. It was community policing in action.
“Behind many young people hustling on our streets are talents and dreams waiting to be discovered,” a PCRC leader said. “Sometimes, all that is required is for someone to stop, listen and care.”
Ridwan had taught himself how to frame a shot, position a tourist, and capture a memory — all without formal training. That same self-reliance is what convinced the officers he was worth investing in.
Stakeholders also linked the intervention to the people-oriented policing style of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tunji Disu, under the “Police is Your Friend” philosophy.
For a child out of school, the risks are real: exploitation, drugs, crime. By pulling Ridwan back into the classroom, they say, they may have pulled him away from a different future.
