WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE- AREGBESOLA

SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OSUN, OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA, AT THE FORMAL COMMISSIONING OF BAPTIST CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, ILARE, ILE-IFE, HELD AT THE SCHOOL PREMISES, ON TUESDAY FEBRUARY 18, 2014

Today is another glorious moment in the ancient city of Ile-Ife, and the entire State of Osun. It is also one of my happiest days, and I share my joy with all.

The reason for our collective joy and glory is the successful completion of Baptist Central Elementary School, Ilare, Ile-Ife, which we are gathered here to commission. Like all such public projects, its accomplishment is a collective effort by the government and public-spirited members of the society.

Therefore, I want to recognise the First Baptist Church, Ilare, who are the original founders of this school, before it was taken over by the government in 1975. The new school is a testimony of the powerful vision of the church that established the old school, in the first place.

I must also thankfully acknowledge the Ademoroti family, with a line of descent from Ooni Ilare, the same royal household as the current Oni of Ife, our royal father, Oba Sijuwade. The Ademorotis have had a long fruitful tie with the Ilare First Baptist Church.

Indeed, Prince Edward Ademoroti of blessed memory was a founding member of the Ilare First Baptist Church, and was instrumental to the establishment of this school way back in 1925.

His son, late Commodore Ademolu Ademoroti attended this primary school and so did all members of the family, including his grandson, Prince Aderoju Ademoroti, the CEO of AstroTurf, the manufacturer of synthetic field.

In continuation of the family’s love for quality education, Prince Aderoju has graciously donated the five-a-side AstroTurf football field to this new school. This love for high quality education is a legacy we intend to revive and preserve.

It was the legacy in this school that produced great people like the Ademorotis and other great Ife indigenes. Regrettably, it is a legacy that has suffered precipitous decline prior to our coming. It has been part of our mission to restore that legacy so that this school will produce even greater people in the nearest future.

It is our unwavering belief that education offers the best way to produce great individuals that will create great society. This is the thrust of our mission in education. It is a mission that should be backed by all, for it is a mission that is in the interest of all.

Consequently, our mission to transform public education in Osun is a march of history – and it is unstoppable. It is a march which we invite everybody to join in the best interests of our children. Our passion to ensure that pupils and students who graduate from Osun public schools are among the best anywhere in the world is unquenchable.

It is a train on a one-way journey that is programmed for one destination only – the attainment of world-class high quality education for its beneficiaries. This is our driving vision; and it is the noble purpose to which all our efforts and actions are directed.

Let me restate it again that we will not be distracted from this objective even if it means stepping on toes. In human society the need for government is an overriding imperative to which there is yet no alternative.

Government is the arbitrator in society and governance is about pursuit of public interest, which is larger and necessary for the good and happiness of all. It must not discriminate in regard to its beneficiaries, and it does not favour any group or individual. It must apply to all equally. This is the directive principle of our education policy; and it is a public interest policy to which well-meaning member of society should identify.

By design and purpose, the new school buildings are not for Muslims or for Christians, neither are they for adherents of any other religion. They are for all children of Osun, regardless of their circumstances of birth. This I expect should be the basis upon which government should be engaged and encouraged.

The education of our children should not be a subject for petty squabbles or unhealthy politics about our narrow interests. Indeed, if we are genuinely interested in the future of our children, we should bury our narrow concerns of today in order to assure for them a glorious tomorrow.

Preparing our children for the future is a responsibility that we must fulfil; it is one for which we will never be forgiven if we fail in its fulfilment. The world around us is moving on; and at a pace that leaves no room for lack of seriousness or half-measures, especially with regard to education.

Progress and advancement are the desire of every human society. And these are brought about by persistently confronting and providing solutions to societal problems. The capacity and the will to do this come from education. Therefore, education is the key to human advancement and progress.

I made the point recently that our world has been changed so radically by technology in the last 20 years. It is yet uncertain what the next 20 years will be. However, we know that it is going to change at a faster rate than the last 20 years. Woe betides a nation or a people that is not prepared for this change.

This is why we remain unflinchingly focused on giving the best education to our children in a most conducive learning environment. Since we began the journey a little over three years ago, we have recorded significant achievements that give us the courage to press on. 

For instance, we have added 10,407 new teachers to the list of public school teaching staff in Osun. Thus, we now have 12,715 teachers in our primary schools and 7,848 teachers in our secondary schools. This amounts to a 54.8 per cent increase in the number of public school teachers we inherited. The same applies to non-teaching staff whose number has also increased by 564.

As a result, the salaries and pensions of our primary and secondary school teachers now cost the government N16.8 billion and N10.3 billion respectively on an annual basis. On the free school uniforms, we expended N900 million, while the elementary school feeding programme costs N3.6 billion every year.

On the supply of furniture to our schools, we have committed N2.5 billion so far, while we have spent N503 million on instructional materials which were not part of public school education before we assumed office. We have similarly increased school grants from N122 million to N856 million. Under our administration, WAEC fees have also shot up from N38 million to N400 million. We have also expended N1.2 billion on our pace-setting e-learning tablet, Opon-Imo.

Along with building new schools, we are also renovating and upgrading some of the existing ones. On this we have spent N1.6 billion. On the new schools, we have committed N14.4 billion on capital projects, while our recurrent annual expenditure is N21 billion on elementary schools, and N13.43 billion on secondary schools. This amounts to per capita spending of N84,000 per elementary school pupil, and N30,000 per secondary school pupil. The total capital expenditure on all schools in the last three years outside new schools is N31.31 billion.

Let me repeat for the umpteen time that our efforts at revamping education never had a religious motive. We are motivated by the highest ideal of developing a complete personality who will be an asset to society as he would be for himself. This is a total man that understands life as an endeavour to add value to society through application of self for the benefit of all. We are clearly neutral on religious observances. It is this neutrality that is the root of the absurd stigmatisation. If religious observance had been allowed, why would a section of the partisans seek relief from the court? An answer to this poser, will clearly settle the erroneous perception that fuels the smear campaign on us.

Work and spending are still going on and will not stop until we achieve our goal of making public schools in Osun places where pupils can get the kind of education that will place them at par with the very best in the world. This is our ultimate aim, and by the grace of God, and your support and understanding, we will realise this objective to the greater future of our children and our state.

What we have brought to education in Osun, if we will not sound immodest, amounts to a revolution. Critics who will be honest should compare this new school and its facilities to what obtained when they went to school and what public schools have become of recent. I am sure very few, if any, private school can compare favourably with the schools we are building. Yet we are not competing with private schools.

Their role, indeed, is to complement and not displace government in the provision of certain essential services. We have to do away with the notion that the government must necessarily fail in certain endeavours which must then be yielded to the private sector. Our pioneer leaders went to public school and they did well. We are therefore restoring the glory of public school and make it the pride of all.

This is our story and it is a story worth telling. Regrettably, our traducers, the scoffers, have been unhappy at these impactful and revolutionary strides. They banded together with a section of the media that is adversarial, with the evil intention of creating confusion in our state. They went round fishing for trouble and when they did not find any, they started manufacturing their own and began to project it as news. They went to the diabolical extent of inciting religious groups against each other and the government. Well, I have good news for them – let them come and report the beauty and the glory of our public schools. Let them join us in the celebration of today. If they are unhappy, then they are going to have a chain of unhappiness because we will keep commissioning more beautiful schools like this and the world will come to see the wonders of public schools in Osun.

Once again, I want to thank every person, group or organisation that makes today a resounding success; from the First Baptist Church, UBEC/SUBEB, O’Schools, the Ministry of Education under the leadership of my deputy, the old students of this school, particularly the aged pioneers who could tell the story of this nursery of knowledge, the entire state cabinet and the good people of Ile-Ife and Osun. Please take note that this is the beginning of a monumental transformation of basic education in the State of the Virtuous -Osun.

I thank you for your cordial audience.

Osun a dara!