“It Is A Self Help To Save The Situation” Stakeholders Speak On Ogun Teachers Paying For Renovation Of Local Govt Education Office

Charles Oyelesi

Stakeholders have reacted to report teachers in Yewa North area of Ogun state are directed to pay for the renovation of the Local Government Education office in the zone.

“It is a self help initiative and it is voluntary” Tai Ayokanmbi, the immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers in Yewa North confirmed in a chat.

Ayokanmbi explained the move was taken to arrest the decay afflicting the Local Government Education office with the primary aim of protecting the documents that serve as records of past and serving teachers in the zone.

Societynow.ng gathered that the situation is deplorable.

The place is described as a wreck with leaking roof, peeled walls and a burnt library.

“They put buckets all over the place when it rains and leave it overnight so that the office that contains vital documents does not get flooded” Ayokanmbi stated.

Ayokanmi explained that before stakeholders agreed on the self help initiative of approaching teachers for voluntary donations from their salaries for the renovation, they had approached different people for support including the former Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly Suraj Adekunbi and local government chairman Tajudeen Amoo.

Both Adekunmi and Amoo who were in office at the time did not provide any support despite different assurances societynow.ng learned.

A report on the rot which started in 2013 is said to have been submitted at the office the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUPEB) but no action has been taken.

Adekunmi disclosed after making these moves and others, and with nothing forth coming, he initiated the self help effort that culminated in request to teachers in the zone to make voluntary donations from their February (2021) salary to save the situation.

The former NUT Chairman, Yewa North explained that the request for donations from teachers is based on agreement between the NUT,AOPSHON (Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria) and another association.

“We came together as stakeholders, agreed on how to salvage the situation and approached the Education Secretary on what we had in mind. We took the idea to him and he accepted since it is a voluntary thing and promised to support with whatever workers in the Education office come up with” Ayokanmbi explained.

“The request is that Teachers in Level 7 to 10 should donate N1,000, those in Level 11-14 should donate N1500 while level 15 and above should donate N2,000. Because it is voluntary, we are not writing names of donors, just the total sum from each school. Our plan is that if we start something the government will be encouraged to come to our aid after seeing the efforts” the former NUT chairman stated.

Though sources insist to societynow.ng that Teachers in some of the schools were not given the option of free will to decide whether to pay or not and given deadline on payment , Ayokanmbi insisted the Head Teachers charged with collecting the donations in different schools were told it is a voluntary donation.

“It is a voluntary donation and the agreement was that the donations would be made from the February Salary and it wasn’t a directive from the Education Secretary but a decision based on agreement among stakeholders” he explained.

A concerned Nigerian who did independent findings echoed Ayokanmbi’s assertion and pointed out the possibility of miscommunication by the Head Teachers in the bid to outdo one another in contributions made by their schools.

Societynow.ng gathered that as a strong show of purpose building materials such as granite and sand have been delivered at the local government Education Office while artisans await delivery of other things needed to commence work.

Asked pointed who ought to be responsible for the renovation the teachers are “donating” to take care, Ayokanmbi stated simply “The government” and added “But we can no longer afford to wait until the government decides to act, there was an officer Akinola, he took care of things out of his own pocket.”

Sources also insist as well intention as the request for the teachers to make voluntary donations for the renovation of the Local Government Education is, it remains an “aberration” and a telling sign on the failure of the government organ in charge of such things to perform its duties, especially taking into consideration the fact that the mess in Yewa North dates back to 2013.