Special Report By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
On the 10th day of May 2020, Alltimepost.com carried a report tilted: “Obaseki Says New Federal College of Education Ekiadolor’ll Boost Training of TVET Teachers.”
According to the report, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State disclosed this during an inspection of ongoing construction work at the Tayo Akpata University of Education, site of a new federal College of Education, said to have been approved for Edo by Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Among the things the report ascribed to Mr. Governor was that the new institution would complement his efforts on technical education.
“The Edo state government has additional capacity to drive Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, with the establishment of this federal institution in the state.
“We would have a Federal College of Education that specializes in training teachers for technical and vocational subjects which is the area we are heading,” the report quoted Mr. Obaseki as saying.
The report further quoted the governor as saying: “I realize that we can promptly commence the opening of the Federal College of Education if we provided the facilities to the Federal government for the institution.”
Most Edo people who read this report heaved a sigh of relief. This was because in recent times, Edo State government had shut down many tertiary institutions like the College of Education Ekiadolor, The School of Nursing, College of Agriculture, the Institute of Continuing Education, (ICE) and the Centre for Community Development (CCD), which it relocated to the hinterland in Ibekuma in Edo North Area of the state.
Opinion has been divided concerning reasons that the government has given for shutting down these institutions of higher learning, to include corruption and the need to upgrade facilities to meet current realities.
In another report by Alltimepost.com, Tale Of ICE, Other Tertiary Institutions In Time Of Covid-19 Pandemic (April 22, 2020) those who support government decision to shut down most state-owned higher institutions, like Bidemi Nelson, say that the government has done the right thing to shut the schools down for the purpose of repackaging them.
Some of these people advise though that the government should get the buy-in of stakeholders, and that it must draw a definite timeline for the reopening of the institutions.
Others cited in the report have maintained that repackaging the schools do not need them to be shut down, but structures and process that aid corruption can be overhauled and thereby replaced.
But to get a better interpretation of the plan by the Obaseki administration on the report: “Obaseki Says New Federal College of Education Ekiadolor’ll Boost Training of TVET Teachers,” Alltimepost.com visited the State Ministry of Education to have a chat with the Commissioner, Jimoh Ijegbai.
Alltimepost.com met an unkempt premises and a building in utter dilapidation and neglect. With old roofs blown away by strong winds, paint peeling off the walls housing the Commissioner himself.
The atmosphere bore a resemblance of a similar encounter at the Centre for Community Development (CCD), until the government stepped in, relocated students and converted it to a Migrant Resettlement Centre. (See Alltimepost.com Reports of February 13, 2019: Edo State:
When Centre For Community Development Fails The People Due To Abandonment, and March 16, 2019: Abandoned Edo CCD: Govt Tears Down Centre, Begins Reconstruction After Alltimepost.com report).
Our investigations revealed as well that in June 2013, the records section of the Edo Ministry of Education was razed down by a mysterious fire.
The governor at that time, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, now National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, set up a 14-member panel, headed by Justice Roland Amaize to investigate the cause of the fire.
The panel made nine recommendations from 28 findings and 13 memoranda. Even though Mr Oshiomhole promised to study and implement the recommendations of the Justice Amaize Report, there is strong evidence that his administration, and indeed successive government in the state appeared to have abandoned it.
Rather, abandonment of educational structures is very much in evidence, as reflected by the building at the Edo Ministry of Education and some other institutions visited by Alltimepost.com.
Like a frozen time capsule, relics of the incident of June 2013 at the Edo Ministry of Education currently bear the look of an untreated sore, oozing a suffocating smell capable of causing an epidemic.
After just about one year in office as governor, there were claims by representatives of the Obaseki administration that 20,000 primary school pupils who were of school age, but not registered previously got registered to resume school.
The Obaseki administration also credits itself with the establishment of the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBest), an initiative said to have revolutionized education in Edo state.
Other reports indicate that the Edo State government has trained over 6,000 primary school teachers and provided most of them with tablets to “enhance modern teaching techniques,” 800,000 free text books to primary schools, and has introduced electronic records for pupils to monitor their movements and academic performances.
Alltimepost.com sought to speak with Mr. Jimoh Ijegbai, Edo Education Commissioner concerning these laudable feats under a seemingly abandoned ministry.
He declined to make any comments on the dilapidation of the Ministry of Education building and requested Alltimepost to get information on the state of the ministry “from the street.”
He volunteered though that the Edo Education Ministry would soon move to the new Federal Secretariat building, and did not say what would likely become of the dilapidated building he would vacate.
Alltimepost.com believes that Governor Obaseki can walk his talk of making EdoBest by dusting up the Justice Amaize Report, make it public and applying recommendations contained therein.
For starters, the public expects Edo State government to move in and clean up that mess at the Ministry of Education in Iyaro Benin City.
It is also expected that if eventually the ministry gets relocated to the new buildings at the Federal Secretariat, government should re-relocate the Centre for Community Development from the bush in Ibekuma to Benin City.
On May 18, 2020, Alltimepost.com reached out to the Secretary to Edo State Government, Barr. Osarodion Ogie for comment when the Education commissioner declined to talk, but he was in a meeting and asked our correspondent to call back.
The following day, upon contact, Barr. Ogie scheduled an interview appointment with our correspondent for Wednesday May 20, 2020 at the State House to discuss the seeming abandoned and dilapidating Ministry of Education building.
Unfortunately, the interview did not hold as Ogie was said to be busy throughout the day, holding conference meetings and attending to very urgent matters of state when Alltimepost.com arrived.
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Etemiku is Alltimepost.com Special Correspondent and Editor-In-Chief of Bob MajiriOghene Communications in Nigeria. majirioghene@protonmail.com
