- Seeks stakeholders’ support for education infrastructure in Kogi
By Stephen Adeleye.
Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hon. Rosemary Ojochenemi Osikoya, has urged individuals, groups, and corporate organisations to assist in the provision of education infrastructure necessary to ensure access to quality education in the state.
Osikoya made the call when she led a team of Government officials on an inspection tour to LGEA Primary School Ukpolojogene, a remote village in Anyigba, Dekina Local Government Areas in Kogi.
The LGEA Primary School Ukpolojogene, is a school with no single block of classroom in one of the remotest villages in Dekina of about 15km from Anyigba town.
The school was established 18 years ago on October 17, 2001 by a mere pronouncement by the former State Governor, Prince Abubakar Audu, but had since then been abandoned by the previous Administrations.
Osikoya noted there had not been sufficient education planning by all the past Governments in the State, adding that Kogi did not receive any form of special interventions from donor partners and federal government especially on secondary education.
According to her, for the first time in the history of Kogi, the Government of Gov. Yahaya Bello, funded the conduct of basic Annual School Census (ASC), and we were able to capture every school across the state because all the relevant stakeholders were duely carried along.
She noted that many surprising reports were discovered through the 2018 ASC, which also revealed that Kogi state had about 5000 primary and secondary schools including both private and public schools, noting that the LGEA Ukpolojogene was captured in the census.
She added the 2018 ASC reports showed that there were many schools with no building; buildings with no student; schools without teachers; and congregation of teachers without schools.
She stressed that the government could not adequately fund education, and urged individuals, groups, organisations and other relevant stakeholders to assist in providing education infrastructure as part of the most basic elements necessary to ensure access to quality education.
She opined that given adequate support to the education would also reduce the high number of out-of-school children and youths, saying there were preponderance of teachers in urban areas but shortage of teachers in rural areas due to lack of basic facilities.
She stressed that any time the issues of the impacts of natural disaster were being discussed, schools infrastructure should always be on the front burner.
”We have several schools’ buildings at both primary and secondary schools level that were affected by natural disaster all the while that Kogi is in the news and yet no intervention from any past government.
”This is more deplorable when you talk about secondary education. So, I would like to join my voice with that of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who acknowledged that government funding alone is not sufficient for education sector.
”In this case, Kogi state is receiving absolutely no intervention for secondary education from anybody whatsoever; so we need to give kudos to GYB that all we have seen is solely the State Government’s effort.
”For basic and tertiary education, we are receiving a measure of support from federal, but there is need to be more especially in Kogi where we have decades of abandonment.
”It is not sufficient for us to go at the pace of waiting for only the UBEC funding that is annually for us to cover up.
”This is why Kogi is making case to benefit from all special interventions. We are making special case for SDGs’ fund which Kogi is yet to enjoy in education.
”We will make no much significant progress if all are to be achieved with only state funding alone,” Osikoya said.
Her Excellency, the wife of the Governor, Mrs Bello Rashidat Bello, who was represented by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mrs Olamide Adesoro, reaffirmed her commitment to supporting the development of educational system in the state.
Adesoro stressed that one of the five thematic goals of the governor was education, saying her excellency was really passionate about ensuring that Kogi children get the best of quality education.
”We are on this mission because her excellency has seen the deplorable state of the educational sector most especially the infrastructural aspects of education in Kogi state.
”Her excellency has taken it upon herself to partnering with the State Ministry of Education to ensure that we get help from the federal government in giving infrastructure to aid the learning of our children,” she said.
Also speaking, Comrade Suleiman Ndalaye Abdullahi, the Executive Chairman of SUBEB, said that the ‘on the spot assessment’ to the school, was prompted by the video that was trending on social media on the state of the school.
He noted that the board had earlier sent supervisors to access the school, that it had been captured in their 2019 action plan, saying, ”we are going to get it done by November or there about”.
According to Abdullahi, His Excellency came in 2016 and immediately paid the state’s counterparts UBEC fund for 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, including the one he met, assuring that work is in progress.
”His Excellency has even provided the counterparts fund for 2019 project and we are just awaiting for that of the intervention from the federal (UBEC).
”We have the matching order from his Excellency to ensure that basic education is transformed.
”We will touch our communities positively as far as the structure is concerned in our schools. We are already packaging the one for 2019,” Abdullahi said.
The Head Teacher of the School, Mr Acheneje Sule, thanked the team for coming all the way from Lokoja for on the spot assessment to the school.
Sule appealed to the state government to bail them out of the numerous problems facing the school, by providing them with adequate blocks of classrooms for effective teaching and learning.
The commissioner and her team on arriving the school premises at Ukpolojogene village, received a warm welcome by the people of the community and the pupils amidst shouting and jubilations.
