By Oluwakemi Ishola
Transparency and Accountability in Governance (TAG), on Sunday, berated Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for directing public schools to open tomorrow (Monday) despite unabated hoodlums attacks across the state.
The Pacesetter News reports that Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Olasunkanmi Olaleye, in a statement was titled ‘Oyo reopens schools in Ibadan after #EndSARS protests’, quoted the governor as saying the reopening followed a review of the situation in Ibadan metropolis.
However, the TAG described the state government’s directive as shocking, following the series of violent attacks recorded across the state. The Group in a statement released by its State Coordinator, Com. Oluwakemi Ajani said the hasty directive at a time that the state capital-Ibadan, Oyo, Ogbomoso and Oke-Ogun remain an enabling ground for hoodlums would, without any doubt, put lives of students and teachers at no minimal risk.
The statement read in part:
“It is worthy of consideration that the protracted violence in Oyo State has not abated as the government attempts to portray. Hoodlums are still on the prowl – burgling shops, destroying properties, attacking, maiming and killing citizens. One of such gory incidents occurred today at Mokola-Sabo axis of the city, which claimed a life and an incalculable amount of properties”.
“The unrestrained penchant of Engr. Seyi Makinde’s administration for hasty decisions without thought-out plan should be put in check, especially when lives and properties are at stake. We can not afford a surge to the number of casualties already recorded”.
“We hereby appeal to the State government to put the re-opening of schools on hold and expedite actions that would ensure the city is no longer a haven for criminals and their heinous motives. Self-preservation is the first law of nature”
