The jubilation that followed the declaration of Engr. Seyi Makinde of PDP the duly elected governor of Oyo State was unprecedented.
That election has been described in some quarters as a referendum. The people came out to vote for a man that promised to deliver unto them the dividends of democracy.
I was part of the campaign and I diligently followed all the campaign promises made by Engr. Seyi Makinde to the people of the State. It is very important to note that Governor Seyi Makinde is not a man that talks for talking sake.
During the campaign, He emphasized strongly four (4) areas his administration will be focusing on. He mentioned Education, Agriculture, Security and Economy.
So let’s sincerely see how he has fared in one year of his administration.
(1) Education –
Prior to Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration, basic and secondary education was nothing to write home about. Children that were in the school age bracket couldn’t attend classes because their parents couldn’t afford the exorbitant, outrageous, unnecessary monies being collected by the administration of public schools in Oyo State and there was practically nothing to show for it.
As a matter of fact, Primary And Secondary school children staged a protest against the high handedness of the last administration in the area of education. I hate to remember this but some of the kids were teargassed.
Oyo State was not doing well in external exams, the schools were dilapidated, students were not performing well in classes and some were even out of school, they dropped out of school. When Governor Seyi Makinde came, He stopped and canceled ALL money being paid by the student and declared primary and secondary education completely free in Oyo state.
Governor Seyi Makinde gave out notebooks and textbooks to Oyo Students. The students preparing for external exams in both public and private schools were given free WAEC compendium and extra lessons organized for them offline and online.
And like you guess, the extra lessons are at no cost to the parents.
Higher institution education was fast becoming a mirage in Oyo State before Engr. Seyi Makinde came on board.
Lautech became a shadow of its old glory. The school that was one of the best in the country before former Governor Ajimobi came was almost in ruins. Industrial action( Strike) by the lecturers was regular, protest for better welfare for students was incessant.
College of Education was always closing and opening, college of Agriculture, Igbo-Ora became technically inactive. Lecturers were owed allowances, renumerations, salaries and the likes. In College of Education, Lanlate, some lecturers were collecting between 25% and 35% of their salaries every month.
It was that bad!
The Polytechnic, Ibadan too had their own fair share of the educational mismanagement of the past administration.
The coming of Engr. Seyi Makinde was a breath of fresh air.
In the last one year, Seyi Makinde has given LAUTECH #500 million naira subvention,
The Polytechnic, Ibadan 300 million naira subvention and for advanced accreditation by National Board for Technical Education(NBTE)
Colleges of education and Agriculture at Lanlate and Igboora respectively had been revived and life injected back into those campuses.
Engr. Seyi Makinde assembled brilliant minds with proven track records to implement his genuine and qualitative education drive.
Universal Basic Education that is always used as a cash cow for politicians in the state was given to the successful, intelligent and pragmatic Dr. Nureni Aderemi Adeniran and the success we have recorded in basic education in the state under Dr. Adeniran is unprecedented. ( I’ll write about Oyo Subeb in this series)
There is also a united nations project called Basic Education Service Delivery Agency (BESDA). The governor appointed a very hardworking man Mr. Sunday Adeyanju to handle that sector and it’s yielding result.
Today, under Seyi Makinde, teachers and lecturers(Both active and retired) are being paid their salaries, allowances and renumerations as at when due so they are always happy to give their best and optimum performance
Oyo State was one of the state with the highest number of out of school children, that shame ended with the last administration. Today, under Governor Seyi Makinde, we are doing so very well, our kids are back to school and education is enjoying a drastic, progressive and transformational change in Oyo State
I should also mention that there is a strong monitoring and enforcement team to ensure that the efforts of the stage government in the educational sector is not sabotaged.
In just one year, the GSM effect is taking Oyo State back to the summit in the area of education and we are glad.
Michael Ogunsina writes from Ibadan.