Funmi Ogundare
The Southwest states Executive Chairmen of Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) has stated its readiness to collaborate with security agencies in their respective states, so that schools can be protected from hoodlums and teachers and pupils are kept safe from attacks.
The Dean and Executive Chairman, Oyo SUBEB, Dr.Nureni Aderemi Adeniran who disclosed this, recently during their meeting in Lagos, said it will also take the issue of perimeter fencing of its public schools seriously to protect its facilities from being vandalised.
According to him, “we are not going to take the issue of insecurity very lightly. We know that kidnapping of students enmasse in some parts of the country are common, so we are putting heads together to ensure that we have our approach that we can table before our governors to ensure security of teachers and students, and prevent their abduction in the southwest. We cannot afford to play lip service to it because it is happening elsewhere.
” It is better to put in place preventive measures rather than curative after the deed would have been done. It transcends primordial sentiments because it bothers on the lives of our teachers and pupils.”
He regretted that during the Covid-19 lockdown, a lot of facilities in most of its schools in the southwest, were vandalised and taken over by hoodlums.
“We discovered that most of our schools do not have perimeter fencing especially the public primary schools. We have included it in our initial plan to fence our schools because we believe that if we have it , insecurity would have been reduced to the barest minimum as it will prevent hoodlums from gaining entrance to disturb the pupils or teachers. We don’t want the facilities provided to be vandalised, “Adeniran said.
He said the meeting was imperative in other to seek ways of further improving on basic education in the southwest states.
According to the Oyo SUBEB boss, “we are not looking at ethnic background, but the major interest is in the development of basic education especially when we know that the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and free education programme emanated from the southwest which has always been the pace setting zone in the area of education. “We don’t want to relinquish that position for any other thing which explains the reason why at the basic education, all the chairmen have decided to come together to look at issues commonly so that whatever we want to demand from UBEC or the federal government, we can speak with one voice without any discrimination.”
Adeniran however, expressed concern about the funding of education by the government and called on all stakeholders including old student’s associations and parent bodies to throw their weight on the board so as to promote education especially at the foundation level.
” We know that even if the entire budget is devoted for education, it still may not be enough and that is why from the government agencies, we also welcome the stakeholders like old students association, parents bodies to come and join hands with us to promote education especially at the foundational level. This is very important. We want to continue to improve because we are actually the ones setting the pace.”
The Executive Chairman, Lagos SUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King said since the southwest states are known for education, it is imperative to lift it out of the doldrums for the benefit of the children.
The chairmen of the southwest SUBEB are drawn from Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun, Oyo and Ondo States. The Executive Chairman of Ondo SUBEB, Princess Oladunni Odu has been appointed as SSG to Ondo State governor.
