30th August, 2014
Abiodun Onafuye, Abeokuta
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, southwest, Nigeria has emphasized that education remains the highest priority of his administration, stressing that, he will do everything possible to restore the lost glory of the state in the area of education.
Amosun also revealed that some of the ongoing Model schools under construction in the State will take off by the next academic session, adding that, they are designed for the best brains among our students as education is a leveler.
The governor revealed this Friday morning at a monitored live programme “New Dawn” on a private owned Radio station in Abeokuta, Rock city 101.9 FM.
“Education is a priority in our government and let me tell you this; it is not just education, but a qualitative and affordable education. Education should be free, from primary and secondary schools and that of the tertiary institutions cannot be fully free. If we say free education, not that we are going to buy uniforms and sandals for them, they must wear something to school but their education is free. There are a lot of rot in the education sector which we inherited but we can’t just do it all once, it is going to be step by step.
“Let me tell you something here, Ogun state people will pardon me for saying it. It should not be something that should be happening in Ogun state. When we came on board in May 2011, in June, I said I want to meet with the students by 8:00am, we waited till something around 9:30 and 10:00am or thereabout, and they were just strolling in. When they were asked why they kept us waiting, they said they are coming with “Irinse”, meaning weapons.
“I was shocked to hear that and they said that. They said that was how they prepared for such meeting with the past government, noting that, the more your weaponry, the much you get, can you imagine that? Is that the kind of Ogun state we are building? Is that the kind of Ogun state our forefathers bequeathed us? All these must change and you all know what we did then to ensure that all the weapons were taken away from them.
“Concerning the model schools, I want to confirm to you that about 10 to 12 of them will be opened this September. They are as good as the best schools in the world and those schools are meant for our best brains, not minding who your parents are. We want to compete with the so called best schools around us, like the Day Waterman here in Abeokuta and others. I can assure you that in the next 10 or 20 years, students that graduate from these schools will be the best in the world. We don’t just want to have schools that will not live to the standard projected. In the past, they steal the money and bamboozle the people with some written names all over them, they call it ziggy or what have you, but we don’t want that again in Ogun state”, Amosun explained.
The governor further disclosed that before they came into governance the state has been blacklisted by the Universal Basic Education, SUBEB and some government agencies due to the attitude of the past administration.
He revealed that he had to ensure that the state’s name was scrapped off the bad record because of the calibers of the people in the state, which according to him, has been fruitful. “When we came on board in Ogun State has been blacklisted by SUBEB, MDG and some other agencies because every money they collected in the past, they squandered. So what we did was to revive this, we moved to pay all the monies owed and to the glory of God, we have paid back
because of our younger ones. I don’t want that to be in the record of Ogun state, we have paid that of 2011/2012 but are yet to do that of 2012/2013, while some states have already done that of 2014”, he said.
Reacting to a poser on what exactly is the debt profile of the state government as many writes-ups have flooded the social media and blogs since the governor appeared on OGTV live programme on Tuesday in a programme tagged: “My Stewardship”.
Amosun maintained that he would rather be silent and concentrate on the work ahead of him as that was his bond for the good people of the state, than to be using such time for frivolous issues.
He declared that with his administration’s commitment and determination, the state has joined Lagos state as only two states in the country who are generating more than what they get from the Federal government in terms of Federal Allocation.
“I don’t think I have time for all what people are saying all around, we don’t have enough time and the little we have must be judiciously spent. I have said it times without number and I have challenged whoever has any contrary fact to come out. As we speak today, Friday 29 August 2014, the exact debt profile of Ogun state is N36.8 billion and it is not static. In 2011, we paid back N7billion; in 2012, we paid N16 billion and last year, we paid back
N21billion and this year, you will see what we will pay. All these are coming to them as surprise and that is why they are saying all what they are saying.
“I showed it when I was on television days ago, what we get from the Federal government this month is four billion and seventy thousand naira and they would have removed what we called Irrevocable Standard Payment Order, ISPO because, they know we don’t have the power to pay it anywhere, only Lagos state in the federation is paying this from its Internally Generated Revenue, now, we have joined them as our IGR now, averagely stands at N5.2billion.
“In 2003, Chief Osoba left with maximum of N300million, between 2003 and 2007, the past administration under Otunba Gbenga Daniel pegged it at N730 million and to the glory of God and the support from the good people of Ogun, within just three years in office, we have raised it to over N5billion. Also, let me say this, concerning the Olabisi Onabanjo Univeristy, I said it at the last programmers on OGTV that the institution owed certain amount of money, I want to state categorically that the past administration owed sum of N2.5billion and we have paid back N1.1billion and still owing N1.4billion. So on the proscription of the Students Union Government, we have lifted that but the closure still remain,” Amosun said.
On his plan of mending fences between him and the former governor and chieftain of the party, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Amosun maintained that, he will do everything possible to resolve the wrangling between them, adding that, Osoba remains his leader.
He appealed to the good people of the state to assist in persuading the former governor, in order not to go into 2015 elections with a divided house. “I want to appeal to people of substance and all the good people of Ogun to assist in appealing to Baba Osoba to sheath his sword and resolve all that is happening. I want to appreciate our people, on a daily basis, I receive at least 2,000 calls and several messages from various people and groups asking me to settle with Baba.
“I want to say this again, I will never fight Baba Osoba, he remains my leader, our leader and we will continue to accord him all the respect he deserves. I cannot even thinking of fighting him, over what, he is my leader and he will remain so. I respect him and will continue to respect him. I can assure you all that everything will be resolved soon, I don’t want to be saying all this on the air but I know that all the crisis will soon become a thing of the past,” the governor assured.
He however, thanked the good people of the state for the opportunity given to him to serve them, promising that his futuristic approach in tackling issues from now will be beneficial to all and sundry in the nearest future.