“ISEYA” meaning work starts is indeed the hallmark of governance in Ogun State as the Dapo Abiodun-led administration recently launched an intervention fund for its State-owned tertiary institutions which do not benefit from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). The fund is targeted to improve infrastructural development in these institutions. Rather than waiting, folding arms and clamouring for the inclusion of these institutions in TETFUND, the Governor has decided to take the bull by the horn and start work while waiting for possible inclusion which may not come. Professor Abayomi Arigbabu, the current Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology who was the former Vice Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun in this interview with Nigerian NewsDirect gives details of the notable steps which the Governor is taking to ensure that Ogun State is listed among the top leading states in the area of education in Nigeria.
By Anu Oyeleye
In the past few years, what is your assessment on the impact of Gov Abiodun led administration on education in Ogun State?
Let me say that his Excellency, Dr. Dapo Abiodun is an education loving Governor, when he came on board just about 20 months ago, the first thing he did was to declare a State of emergency on education. Not only did he do that, he also decided to go beyond lip service to ensure that more attention is placed on education at all levels from primary, secondary to tertiary. When you go round schools in Ogun State, you would see some buildings with yellow roofs, these building were either refurbished or in some cases built from scratch. As we speak, we have 969 projects that are on-going in schools. The projects include infrastructure, equipments and other facilities needed in schools.
Also, about 9,000 furniture have been distributed to schools at the level of primary and secondary schools and efforts are ongoing to produce and distribute 25,000 furniture to meet the demands of schools in Ogun State.
At the level of primary and secondary schools, the Governor introduced the idea of running cost to schools and it has been paid regularly. This was something that wasn’t in place for a while. Now, the school running cost is being reviewed to ensure that administrators have enough money to run the schools on daily basis.
To address the huge gap in learning during the COVID-19 lockdown, the State government created a digit class which was relayed on the OGUN STATE TELEVISION (OGTV). The digit class helped the students a lot so much so that there was just limited gap to cover upon students’ resumption. And even after resumption, the digit class still continues. In fact, when students resumed, we were able to successfully organize the examination without much delay. We also successfully organized the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in November 2020. For that examination, the Optical mark recognition sheets were introduced, that too was an innovation to enable a seamless flow and the government also approved examination logistics to schools. Before this administration came on board, there had been backlogs of promotion since 2016. This administration cleared all that and went further to provide capacity training for School heads and went as far as sending some abroad. The training is still ongoing. All this is to ensure that teachers perform excellently. We still have some training in the pipeline but we are taking cognizance of the pandemic. We still intend to do more in the area of training to increase teachers’ productivity. To boost teachers’ morale, the State government since October last year has started implementing the 30,000 minimum wage. Ogun State is part of the only six States that have started implementing that policy. Many States are not paying but we are.
As a seasoned administrator, who is now the Commissioner of education, what reforms do you plan to implement so as to improve education sector in the State?
On my own reforms, I have come with plans of rejuvenating the system. I have designed a strategy which I call the Education Revitalization Agenda. It is anchored on six pillars which include innovation in Curriculum development, School Management, Technology, Revenue Generation, Infrastructural development and Improving Teachers and Students’ Welfare.
On innovation in curriculum design, the Ministry is currently working on creating a curriculum that fosters creativity while leveraging on the use of technology. We want a curriculum that is student-centered, we are collaborating with experts in the field of education and ICT to develop this. We really want to digitize the system in order to increase access and improve standard. There would be videos of school lessons that students can download to complement the face to face learning in schools and to augment some of the gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic. We know that digitization comes with its own challenges in view of the Nigerian situation but we are determined to forge ahead.
For Indigent students and to also subsidize the cost of data, we are working on providing resource centres which facilities would be provided for free. We have categorized schools into three. We plan to work on them in batches, we have flagship schools which already have some of these facilities, we would just complement their existing facilities. And the other schools would be included but like is aid in batches. The categorization will not cause any form of neglect because we would still be working on the overall welfare of all schools. But, we will definitely move all of them to frontline schools only at different pace.
The State boasts of nine state owned tertiary institutions, “Ago-Iwoye, Abeokuta, Ayetoro, Ibogun, Igbesa, Ijagun, Ijebu-Igbo, Itori, and Saapade,” how does the ministry plan to help to strengthen their system to ensure quality performance?
At the tertiary level, the government ensured that the subventions to tertiary institutions are paid regularly and the Governor is aiming to improve these subventions. He has called on the Commissioner for Finance and myself to seek out ways which the subventions can be increased. We haven’t done this yet because we want to make sure that we don’t start paying for some months and stop halfway, we are looking to ensure that the increment is sustainable. The government has also approved Bursaries for indigenes of Ogun State in tertiary institutions and scholarships for outstanding students (those with distinctions and upper credit). The students are to be on scholarship from first year to final year as long as they maintain the position. The administration also gives support to its institutions for them to have 100% accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC). For the first time in Ogun State, this administration has approved a construction intervention for all tertiary institutions in the State. The management of the institutions have been told to identify projects which they want to embark on. That is one of the things that make this administration outstanding. Most importantly, the State has introduced an Education Intervention Fund just like a local TETFUND which would provide infrastructural development in five state-owned institutions that are not beneficiaries of TETFUND. For the first phase, the government has approved N200 million and still plans to increase the fund this year. We are also looking to include secondary schools and technical institutions. This intervention fund is apart from the normal budgetary allocations to these institutions.
Using technology to aid learning can be expensive especially in the short run, is there any plan laid out for indigent students?
We are aiming to partner with technology companies so that they can help provide free data to students or provide at minimal cost. Another scheme which would be helpful in the actualization of our goals is the “Adopt a School Initiative” which has increased the number of support gotten from alumni and stakeholders. This administration started it and should be commended for that. Already, we have received a lot of support from past students who now give back in groups, sets or even individually. They are all showing support because they are quite happy with the policy, activities of this administration. You would recall that upon inauguration, this government announced a free education policy which has eliminated the payment of all levies. This is to improve access and help achieve the SDG 4 which is to ensure that by 2030, all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education.
You talked about leveraging on technology, how does the Ministry plan to resolve the challenge of inconsistent power supply?
To solve the issue of epileptic power supply, we have decided to provide generators, solar inverters to our schools to help sustain this project. For teachers to be able to deliver, we would still continue to organize training on technology and continue to sensitize them. COVID-19 has awakened everyone’s consciousness to the indelible importance of technology and all teachers need to follow the trend to remain relevant.
Earlier this year, you explained that the decision to re-open schools was subject to periodic review, what is your current assessment of the COVID-19 situation
It is under control, we are following instructions given by the Federal Government and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to ensure that there is no upsurge of cases in schools. We still enforce that assemblies should be cancelled and maintain strict adherence to social distancing. There is a surveillance team giving report on that.
What is your parting statement to parents/guardians, teachers and the entire nation?
I want to say that we should not lose hope in the face of the challenges we are all passing through especially the ones caused by the pandemic. Education is vital, education is key. Nations that have achieved greatness have been able to leverage on education. We need to put our money where our mouth is. We should stop paying lip service to education. We should invest in education. It is an investment, by the time you start reaping you won’t be able to quantify it. It is like planting seeds, after few months, it becomes a very big plant and you will be wondering if it is just the seeds you planted that have yielded such a harvest.