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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu is expected to grace the investiture of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in September as the grand patron of the All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) in the state.
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Dr Nasir Idris, and ANCOPPS National President Mr Anselm Izuagie are also among critical stakeholders in the education sector in the country, expected at the programme.
The disclosure was made by the State President of ANCOPPS, Pastor Mojisola Ojetunde and the group’s secretary, Mr Akin Akinade, in an interview with journalists, after a meeting with the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs Olubamiwo Adeosun.
According to them, the body is proud of Makinde, and is extremely delighted with the leadership style of the state governor, especially in the area of education development.
Ojetunde said: ‘How can one forget in a hurry how the present administration, at its inception, organised a 3-day capacity training in a conducive atmosphere for instructional leaders (principals and vice principals) for efficient and effective management of our secondary schools. In my over 30 years as a teacher, this never happened. It shows a governor who clearly understands what it means to train and retrain the commanders on the field.
‘Again, one can see the recruitment of over 5,000 teachers and conversion of over 1,000 non-teaching to teaching staff. In one fell swoop, over 6,000 teachers were added to our classrooms. This is certainly unprecedented and I know what I am talking about.
‘This is not even talking about distribution of chairs and desks, laboratory equipment, exercise and textbooks and to crown it all, prompt payment of salaries, which is more than a morale booster.
‘The results of all these interventions are beginning to manifest in the achievement scores of our students in the state.
‘The honour ANCOPPS is giving to Governor Seyi Makinde as our Grand Patron is to further celebrate the activities, policies and programmes of the government in the area of education, which today has reflected in the major improvements we are witnessing in the sector.’
The ANCOPPS’ secretary, Akinade, said figures have indicated over 6,000 students that have dropped out of school, before the advent of the present administration, have returned to classrooms across the state, as a result of the free education policy of the Oyo State Government.
‘Today, Oyo State is one of the leading lights among other states in the federation in education development; remember it was among some other states mentioned at the outset of the present administration to be among those with a high number of Out-of-school children, today, the story has changed, we now have over 6000 students that are back in school because of these laudable steps of the state government.
‘This government has returned the school grant, free textbooks and notebooks to students, employed many teachers, elevated many senior teachers and our salaries and emoluments are constantly paid at the 25th of every month, it is worthy of commendation.
‘We are all in Nigeria, some states earning more than Oyo State are sacking teachers and other workers, some are rescinding their promise to pay minimum wage while others are owing months in salaries of workers, our own governor has left nothing untouched in returning normalcy to the education system and I can tell without any fear of contradiction that some states have been coming to emulate the good programmes and policies of Oyo State Government on education.
‘We are therefore planning to make the governor of Oyo State our Grand Patron, he is worthy of that honour and we are sure he is going to do more to drive the growth of education and other sectors of the state,’ he maintained.
