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Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday vowed to uproot some cartels trying to sabotage his administration’s free education policy.
The governor, who stated this during an on-the-spot assessment to St. John’s School, Aremo, Ibadan, said the policy is being resisted in some quarters by those who benefitted from the corruption of the past years through acts of internal sabotage, noting that his “administration would be decisive in dealing with the remnants of the corrupt cartel.”
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, Makinde also ordered the immediate renovation of blocks of classrooms and supply of furniture to the school and other worst-hit schools in Ibadan metropolis.
He noted that other public schools in the state with deplorable facilities would be given attention soon, so as to improve the quality of education in the state.
He said: “This is absolutely unacceptable. We will try our best to ensure that the situation is fixed as quickly as possible. The commissioner is here. The TESCOM Chairman and the Permanent Secretary, TESCOM, are also here.
“I am going to engage the community leaders once I get outside. If there are carpenters in this neighborhood, they will make chairs for you immediately. If there are bricklayers here as well, they will fix this.”
The governor added that the education sector has suffered a massive neglect in the last couple of years, noting that the kind of terrible condition he met the school couldn’t have happened overnight or suddenly.
He reiterated the commitment of his administration to guarantee qualitative education in the state, adding that the intervention on the worst-hit schools was just on the basis of exigency and that a holistic approach to solving the infrastructural deficit is already in motion.
The governor further stated that the massive rot in the education sector could not be changed overnight and assured the students that his administration would ensure lack of infrastructure do not affect their academic pursuit.
On the governor’s entourage are the Commissioner for Education, Barrister Olasunkanmi Olaleye; Chairman of the State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Pastor Akin Alamu and the Permanent Secretary, TESCOM, Mrs. Grace Oderinde.