World Teachers Day: Ogun To Build 900 Classrooms, Declares Monday Public Holiday

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state has disclosed  his administration’s  plan to construct 12 blocks of 900 smart classrooms in each zone of the state.

The governor made this known on Saturday while speaking in the state’s capital, Abeokuta in commemoration of the World Teachers Day.

The state held the celebration at the Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta.

Speaking, Abiodun said the government decided to embark on the construction of smart classrooms across the schools in all the zone, in response to complaints that students are learning under dilapidated buildings.

The state helmsman said he already approved the construction of 12 blocks of 900 smart classrooms in four schools in each zone across the state.

The four benefiting schools are Abeokuta Grammar School, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta; Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode; Remo Secondary School, Sagamu; and Yewa College, Ilaro.

He explained that the problem is not as a result of lack of funds to provide conducive classrooms for students, citing the Ogun State Education Intervention Fund as one of the interventions by his administration to make funds available for education in the state.

He also denied suggestions that the state failed to pay its counterpart fund for the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC funds to access necessary funds for the state’s basic education development.

He blamed his predecessor for not paying the state counterpart fund to UBEC, stressing that his adminsitration has started performing its obligations regarding this.

The governor said, “You recall that when I assumed office, this state had not accessed the 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 funds. Shortly after I assumed office, we paid the counterpart funding for those four years, and we accessed the funding. The current funding we are implementing is for 2018 and 2019.

“What I noticed is that most of the contracts were abandoned because of inflation; the pricing was not realistic. That was my number one observation

“My second observation was that despite all these interventions, every now and then, you would see an Ogun State school in the news. You would see Ogun State learners sitting on 9-inch blocks and learning in schools without roofs, despite the fact that we have accessed UBEC or SUBEB funding.

“I realised that something had to be wrong, and what was that? I realised that the schools that were being built were not the worst of the worst schools.

“We put a hold on the programme, and I set up a task force headed by the Head of Service, and I mandated them to go around the nooks and crannies of the state and identify the worst of the worst schools so that we are no longer embarrassed.”

He added, “I am glad to tell you that the exercise has now been completed, and I had to personally call the UBEC Chairman and tell him that we had to rework our work plan and that work plan had to reflect our peculiarities in Ogun State. We must not have schools that are not conducive for academic planning anymore, “ Abiodun said.