Rev Fr. Christopher Odeluyi is a Priest and Chaplain of the Roman Catholic Church, and serves as Founder and CEO of Christopher Odeluyi Foundation For Education (COFFE). His work and service as a Priest and Chaplain of the Roman Catholic Church, has led him to interface with various people of different financial class, background, age, and gender, and has come to realize that quality Education and Entrepreneurship skills, are the best show of love and gift one can offer the lowest, the oppressed and neglected of the society, in other to empower and uplift their lives.
As a child who had to either run or walk over four kilometers every day to get primary and secondary education, Fr Christopher understands the importance to quality, accessible and affordable education to all children. Little wonder in his first priestly assignment as Parish Priest of St Mary Catholic Church, Iloro Ekiti, Ekiti State (2009 – 2015), he founded Santa Maria Nursery and Primary School Iloro, Ekiti State Nigeria, equipped with standard classrooms and a school bus, with the primary focus of providing quality, accessible and affordable education to all children, and also encouraging girl child education in the community.
In 2016, he was transferred on a Mission to the North East of the Nigeria where he served as a Chaplain for the Nigerian Army at the War zones where the Nigerian Army is pitched against Islamic insurgents (mainly Boko Haram and ISIS). His Experiences in the North East of Nigeria made him realize how badly, many great minds can be led astray with misinformation, poverty, ignorance and lack of education, and thus become a thorn to the society. Education he believes, can bring a cure to insurgency, which has found a breeding ground in idle, poor, unemployed and illiterate minds. Also having witnessed the devastating effects of war and the psychological effects it has on people especially children, having interfaced with war survivors, rape survivors, and children at refugee camps, he believes the greatest help and societal reintegration they can receive is quality education.
Since his Ordination as a priest, Fr Christopher made it a point of duty to offer scholarships and provide entrepreneurship training to disadvantaged children and youths, every year and in every community he is posted to work at. He has so far provided primary, secondary and tertiary scholarships to several children since his ordination as a Priest, and has sponsored skill acquisition and entrepreneurship training for many youths.
Christopher Odeluyi Foundation For Education (COFFE) was founded out of Fr. Christopher’s hunger and desire to eliminate poverty through education, and thus reach out and provide education to more children especially those at refugee camps, the orphaned and poorest of the society, to provide schools and educational materials to poor communities starved of quality educational facilities, and to combat unemployment and also provide aid to victims of war and terrorism through skill acquisition and entrepreneurship training. He leads the organization as CEO with the commitment to achieving its mission.
