The Peoples Democratic Party in Kwara State and the state government have expressed divergent views on the poor learning environment and the provision of classrooms in schools in the state.
While the PDP said that a documentary recently released by BBC on the state of some schools in the state exposed Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq government’s insincerity in the running of his administration, the government said the immediate past administration of Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed caused the rot in the schools as it failed to pay the state counterpart funds to the Universal Basic Education Commission for four years.
The PDP, in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Adewara, condemned what it called the attempts by the APC government led by AbdulRazaq to intimidate the management of the BBC following the release of a documentary highlighting the deplorable state of education in Kankan LGEA School, Asa Local Government Area of the state.
It said, “The documentary produced by BBC shed light on the appalling conditions faced by students, including learning under the trees and pupils sitting on the bare floor in dilapidated classrooms during lessons.
“The revelations in the BBC documentary uncovered almost five years of rot, corruption, scandalous thefts and gross mismanagement of public funds in Kwara’s education and other sectors of the state”
Adewara, in a statement released to our correspondent in Ilorin on Friday, slammed Abdulrazaq for accessing the UBEC fund without telling Kwarans how much was received and how the fund was appropriated and expanded for public scrutiny.
“Our party, like every other concerned Kwarans, is highly disturbed that despite several media claims that the government has invested over N14.2bn in basic schools across the state since 2020, Kankan LGEA School, just like many basic schools infrastructures are coming to deflate these propaganda and frauds plaguing our education system in Kwara.
“We, therefore, demand publication of the number of billions accessed from UBEC as counterpart funding for the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017…..2021 and how these funds have been appropriated for public scrutiny, and the Kwara people, on whose behalf this huge fund was accessed deserve to know how they are expended,” the statement added.
However, the Kwara State Government refuted claims that it was behind the state’s non-availability of classrooms and dilapidated buildings in the state public schools.
In a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Communications, Mrs Bolanle Olukoju, the government said that the immediate past administration led Ahmed should be held responsible for a shortage of classrooms in the state primary schools
Olukoju said, “This administration has moved on from whatever happened in the past, except where historical references are inevitable. Our task is so enormous that we are left with no time to waste.
“Regardless, the truth is that the administration still grapples with the burden of fixing the most basic things, including those that should have been done but had resources meant for them blatantly stolen by these PDP officials.
“An example is the UBEC funds, which were brazenly stolen. We reported a case of a particular N1bn UBEC intervention funds that were withdrawn cash and stolen. The evidence is damning.
“This barefaced and irresponsible conduct led to the blacklist of Kwara by UBEC and set the state back for many years in education infrastructure and many other sectors. As if that was not enough, there had not been any meaningful investments in basic education until our administration came up in 2019.
” It is not surprising, therefore, to see a Kankan LGEA School in some parts of the state, despite the huge funds we have pumped into the sector. This was the essence of the government’s public communication dated July 24, 2022, and titled ‘Next Time You See an Oke Apomu LGEA School.’
“Even so, our focus has been governance. This is why we feel scandalised by the lack of context in the recent BBC report on LGEA School Kankan in Asa Local Government Area The media owe the public not just a duty to tell a story but to give appropriate context to such stories for lessons to be learnt. Kankan LGEA School, like many of it across the state, did not just get there. They have all been documented, and steps are being taken to put them in shape in phases.”
