In this interview with Bankole Taiwo, the Chairman, Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM) Ogun State, Evang. Joshua Olalekan Ifede speaks on the commitment of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State to revamping the education sector. The former Caretaker Chairman of Ikenne local government was equally positive about the second term bid of Gov. Abiodun, maintaining that all opposition against him failed in the past and are bound to fail again, this time around, woefully. Excerpts:
Tell us your experience since your appointment in November 2020 as the Chairman of TESCOM, Ogun State.
Well, it’s been very challenging and tasking but the good Lord has been our helper, coupled with the fact that we have a governor who is so much in love and committed to revamping our Education sector. Really, things have been a lot better compared with when we took off.
We started with the refurbishing of the TESCOM headquarters office here in Abeokuta, after all, charity they say begins at home. Now, the era of untidy offices, lack of good furniture is over. We even started by tasking ourselves, I mean, I and my Commissioners before we started accessing our budget and I am happy that we are now operating from a very conducive environment. Generally, TESCOM is in charge of the recruitment, placement, transfer, promotion of both the teaching and non-teaching staff in our public secondary schools. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology owns the students as well as the infrastructure.
What is your take when you look at education under this government of Prince Dapo Abiodun?
Things have really improved very tremendously. You know when this governor came on board, his first pronouncement was to declare state of emergency in the education sector and what does that mean? It means that whatever we need to do we just go ahead and do it without any administrative bottleneck or encumberance. You can see the evidence of all this in the yellow roofs across our schools in the state, it doesn’t matter how remote the place may be. The governor has invested so much in fighting infrastructure deficit in our schools. There is also provision of furniture for the schools and to fight the challenge of insufficient teaching personnel, government is also set to inject 5,000 fresh hands into the system. We have done first batch of 1,000 under Ogun Teach, we have equally begun issuing letters for another set of 1,000 and this cut across our primary, secondary as well as our technical colleges. What about promotion of our staff? Before my appointment, teachers used to get their promotion last but that has changed now. The governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has been so magnanimous. He has cleared the teachers’ promotion arrears from 2018 to 2020. Those of 2018 received their letters in January, 2019 received theirs in March while those of 2020 will receive their own by June with cash backing. The teachers have also been enjoying career progression. We have inducted over 500 Principals and about 265 Vice Principals since I got to the office. Much of what we do now has been digitalised. For instance, students’ admission and placement is now online, their results too is now online, so parents have access to performances of their children, so no child can play pranks with his result again. I also need to state that for the ongoing recruitment of teachers, we are really focusing on our rural areas. We want to ensure that the challenges of not having teachers at our schools in some rural areas and remote places are tackled headlong. And we don’t change your name, once you are posted out to such schools because you have already been informed from the beginning that that is where the vacancies exist for now.
Can you speak about the Ogun Teach?
Ogun Teach means Teaching Experience Acquisition Channel of Ogun State and this is a programme designed by all of us, stakeholders in the education, that is, those in SUBEB, TESCOM, Ministry of Education to find a way of addressing the shortage of teaching personnel while also taking into cognisance paucity of funds. So, the programme is designed in such a way that those we recruited will for two years work as interns for stipend after which they will be assessed and if they have done well would be retained. I know that my governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun will eventually ask them to be retained because this is a governor who out of his large heart ratified the employment of over 1,000 people that the previous government hurriedly employed at the twilight of his administration. He went ahead to pay the arrears of their nine months salaries in a single day. So, I have that assurance that the governor will eventually retain these people too once they conduct themselves appropriately within these two years.
In the recent past, there were ugly incidents of violence in the schools, attacks on teachers, and the likes, but these seem to have subsided, can you give update?
Yes, you are right. We had those issues to contend with in the recent past with the parents inviting thugs to attack teachers and causing avoidable problem for us in our schools. To stem this ugly tide, those of us in the education sector teamed up and came out with the idea of the undertaking form to be signed by the students, parents, teachers and the principals. And we have our rules and stages of punishment which are explicitly stated in this undertaking form. A file was opened for each student and this undertaking form is kept there, now as student and parents you know what and what not to do, including the punishment if you decide to do otherwise. We also did this in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and the Police. We equally organised series of public enlightenment meetings with the parents, to let them understand the import of all these steps we are taking. Two parents who thought it was still business as usual tried to misbehave and got their fingers burnt. One of the cases had been dispensed with the court asking the parent and the accomplice to sweep the school for six months. The second one is still in court and we really want to thank God that we are putting such terrible incidents behind us.
You are a member of a group, DA Mandate that recently bought the N50 million nomination form for the second term bid of Gov. Abiodun, what will you really say informed this?
We were really moved by his purposeful governance, though the governor is also our kinsman, our brother having come from Remo land and even the same local government with him. We felt that we should show him our brotherhood and encourage him to continue his good job because sincerely, the governor has shown deep sense of commitment to advancing the development of the state at all fronts. Look at what he is doing in the area of road construction, those completed like Abeokuta-Siun-Sagamu Expressway, Ijebu Ode-Epe Expressway, Navy-AIT road, Elite road, Abeokuta and several others. And these are done across the state, unlike someone in the past just concentrating all these goodies in one geographical location. You can see the hand of the governor in education, housing, Agriculture among others. Look at the ongoing Agro-Cargo Airport at Ilisan Remo, you will be amazed with the level of work going on there, what about the abandoned Ago Iwoye-Ilisan road now receiving the governor’s attention. And I should also add that this is a government with human face. Look at the case of over 1,000 workers that were employed at the twilight of the previous government, about one or two month to go, yet Gov. Abiodun ratified them and even paid them their nine months salary arrears at once. He is also the first governor that will continue with the projects of his predecessor. He has completed some of those projects that were either abandoned or not finished by his predecessor, Sen. Amosun. By all standards, Gov Abiodun has earned his second term on the basis of performance and love for the people of Ogun State.
What do you say to all forms of attack against the governor if you really say he has really done so much?
Well, Yoruba will say “inubini ko kan tai mowa hu” meaning that you are hated or being attacked is not necessarily because you are not doing what is expected of you but rather a product of jealous and “bad bele” (bitter) politics. Some people won’t just be happy you are climbing higher, so rather than clap for you they will be busy looking for how to pull you down but these set of people usually have God to contend with. They tried it in the build up to 2019 elections and failed woefully, they have started it again in 2022, they will also crumble and fail exceedingly, that is sure. They knew they could not fault the governor’s award-winning performance and then decided to embark on journey of all manners of fabrications and trash, as the almighty God liveth, Prince Dapo Abiodun MFR is our governor till 2027. It is a divine mandate and so it shall stand.
What are the challenges here?
Yes, we have our challenges because man’s wants are insatiable but the resources are limited and so we have been prioritising our needs to ensure that we do first thing first. The governor has also been very helpful in this area too, so we have been navigating our ways around those challenges to achieve our aims.
What is the synergy between the Ministry of Education and TESCOM?
We have forged good alliance with the Ministry, thanks to the Commissioner, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, people are even saying this is the first time such is happening in a long while. We have always collaborated to move the state forward. I should also tell you that what we now have in our schools is Parents’ Club and no more Parent Teacher Association because no one is allowed to collect any dime from the students, our schools are free. If the parents want to support the government, they will write for approval and it will be granted. We also urge communities and association of old students to be partners in progress with the government.