We spent hugely on education, spent n7b on Education – Oyo State Governor

The Oyo state Governor Abiola Ajumobi said his administration through the Schools’ Governing Board (SGB) has spent not less than 7 billion naira on Education in the State.

Apparently firing at critics who have accused him of neglecting the educational sector in the state, Governor Ajimobi on Wednesday also said the Schools’ Governing Board (SGB), among other policies introduced by his administration in every school had committed no less than N8billion into funding of schools.

He said the sum is apart from the State government spending of about N7billion to renovate blocks of classrooms and provision of other facilities in the premises of the many affected schools across the state.

The Governor made the disclosure while commissioning the ultramodern Oba Akinbiyi Model School, Mokola, Ibadan.

According to him, the acceptance of the SGB policy by the people of the state was reflected in the financial, manpower, logistics and intellectual contributions made by the generality of the people of the state to supporting the educational sector.

He said, “The greatest innovation we have made is the introduction of SGB. We have close to 628 secondary schools in the state today which are managed by all stakeholders in every community the school is situated.

“I am happy to inform you that since we started SGB, people have contributed close to eight billion naira while government has contributed over seven billion naira. We are so happy that the resultant effect has been the fact that in the past eighteen years, our results have been the best only in last year.

“It will be recalled that our scientific approach to our mandate compelled the organization of two education summits in the years 2012 and 2016. Both summits identified major gaps in our education sector, a significant part of this gap is the infrastructural decay in our school system. Consequently, we embarked on the construction of world class learning environment with the vision to deliver quality education across the State.

“As an administration, we have presided over most focused, prudent and responsible management of available resources for the maximum benefit of our people for almost eight years.

“Underpinning every step we have taken is our desire for quality in whatever we do. Aside from the three model school edifices, the renovation of several blocks of classrooms in 100 secondary schools across the length and breadth of the State was recently carried out to create conducive learning environment for our students.”

The governor added that the state-owned tertiary institutions also gained tremendously from state funding, which had positioned them to lead other institutions in the country in academic performance, adding that over N46billion has been expended on state-owned higher institutions apart from changes that have been made to pave ways for their growth.

“These efforts are not limited to secondary schools, through the Oyo State Education Trust Fund, we have carried out renovation of many blocks of classrooms, over 40 of them, particularly in the five technical colleges in the state, while the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) carried out massive construction, rehabilitation of public primary schools in our bid to upgrade middle-level technical manpower and make learning environment child-friendly.

“I am pleased to note that the transformation process in education was not limited to basic and secondary schools. Contrary to some uninformed opinions, this administration has succeeded at repositioning all state tertiary institutions, setting them on a path of financial prudence for sustainable management and development.

“Our desire to make affordable tertiary education available to students of Oyo state origin, has led to the upgrading of Oyo State College of Education from monotechnic to Polytechnic, Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa Polytechnics from satellite campuses of the Polytechnic Ibadan to full-fledged polytechnics.

“We have spent close to N46billion on funding state’s tertiary institutions in the past seven years. If you divide it by seven, we have done more than six billion, closer to seven billion every year on education.”