Group raises alarm over dilapidated state of public schools in Oyo

A sociopolitical group, under the aegis of Better Oyo Movement (BOM), on Wednesday decried the deplorable state of public schools within Oyo State, adding that the schools’ current palpable condition advertises nothing but the general failure of the Seyi Makinde Government.

In a statement in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the group at the vanguard of developing the state argued that despite the high propaganda machineries which attends barely every activity, event and project embarked upon by the Makinde – led PDP administration visible results on ground have continually proven the opposite, puncturing the lies perpetually spewed by a government “full of deceit”.

BOM, whose release was signed by Dr. Femi Fakunle and Engr. Tunji Hammed, Chairman and Secretary respectively, further noted that it was shameful for the Makinde Government not to have been able to turnaround the fortunes of the state’s public schools, in the face of humongous receipts not only from federal allocations, but also internally -generated receipts, not minding available grants from federal government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and charities.

The statement reads, “When Governor Makinde in his inaugural speech cancelled the payment of N3000/session levies hitherto in operation in public schools, we had thought it was a new lease of life for schools within the state, believing he was ready to pump funds into the sector, to at least better the very modest contributions of the Abiola Ajimobi Government.

“Unfortunately, we were very wrong – reason being that available evidences have shown that instead of things improving within the sector, they have, in fact, gone terribly wrong, with no signs of possible improvements, whether now, or in the future. Our tour round the state, backed with pictorial evidences, have punctured holes in the daily doses of governmental hypocrisy, lies and deception the Makinde Government continually feeds our people with. Available pictures only showed one thing; this isn’t the kind of life our people voted for.

“Most schools visited by our team, were dilapidated, with blown-off/leaking roofs, quaking walls, sandy/muddy floors, many without windows, and terribly lacking needed infrastructure like chairs and tables. In some, what could pass for a school is just a single block of classrooms, in a population as much as a thousand!

“Though we would’ve excused this, had the schools been just a few, arguing on behalf of government, that they were like that just because its hands of genie were yet to touch them, and that things would improve, in a matter of days, all things being equal. However, with the widespread number in these cases of dilapidation, no amount of sensible excuse, not even from government’s paid megaphones, or its N30,000/month advocates, can hold water – what is obvious to the blind and audible to the deaf, is that the Makinde Government hasn’t, in the last three years, laid a single block on the other, nor provided tables and chairs.

“For the avoidance of doubt, what is currently available in Army Barracks Grammar School, Iwo-Road, Oke’badan High School, Agugu, Ijaiye High School, Ijaiye, Baptist Primary School, Arinkinkin, Oyo, Anglican Primary School, Jobele, Ratibi College, Holy Trinity Grammar School, Old-Ife Road, to mention but a few, are eyesores, not worthy of any classification. How the governor is glad these are the legacies he’s bequeathing the state is in fact, befuddling.

“Much as this deliberate neglect isn’t surprising, for we know the current Oyo State Government isn’t one that prioritizes “soft” projects like school construction, rehabilitation or repair, unlike its lust for securing loans to execute “hard” projects like road and motor parks construction, farm settlements rehabilitation etc, at inflated prices, our only surprise is in the fact that the humongous amounts it usually wastes on the production of exercise books, amongst other prodigal projects, could’ve been deployed in the refurbishment of our schools.

“A government that only released grants in two terms out of the 10 it had been in power, yet projects an atmosphere of abundance, peace and tranquility in the school system, is nothing but the chief in deceits, it deserves no empathy,” it continued.

Challenging the Makinde Government to list its achievements in the public education sector, particularly in the provision of school infrastructure, in the last three years it had been in the saddle, the group, however reminded the governor that his days of deceit, hypocrisy and barefaced lies are over, as the good people of Oyo State were now determined, more than ever, to punish him in the 2023 polls, as they will return to the reins of power in Agodi, a government which is pro – people, honest and humane.