Gbenro Adesina
The Parents Forum of the Government College Ibadan (GCI), on Thursday April 14, 2022, wrote the Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, intimating him about their disapproval of his government handling over of school to Wale Babalakin-led Old Boys Association.
According to a letter signed by P. T. A. Chairmen for Senior and School, Prince Adeniji Adeniyi and Owosibo Olusegun Mr. Adebamiji Olatunde, respectively, and titled, “Letter of Appel and Petition to the Executive Governor of Oyo State over the Hnading over of Government College, Ibadan to the Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA), the parents body demanded the immediate reversal of the handing over of the school to the old-boys associate.
The Forum pointed out that the handing over has “raised a lot of concerns and questions in the interest of the public, the GCI community, Apata Community, Ibadan People and the good people of Oyo State, with the request to consider the concerns of the parents and other stake holders on the matter.”
The letter reads in part:
It is instructive to note and state here that:
1) We (Parents) find this action as nothing but a betrayal of trust between the Government and the masses of the State, especially in the education sector as clearly stated in the inaugural address by Your Excellency during the Swearing-in-Ceremony at Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan on May 29, 2019.
2) The College that ought to serve the community is now to serve the selected few and the Government is indirectly ceding the heritage of the State to the selected few.
3) The people behind the College take over are after the resources in the school, most especially, the land mass and the staff quarters scattered within the College environment for their own selfish interest.
4) The Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA) under the Trustee Incorporated that is taking over the College has members in School Governing Board (SGB). One of them is even the Chairman of the Board. If not for the ulterior motives, why can’t the GCIOBA support the College through this avenue instead of complete take over?
5) During the last School Governing Board meeting held in the GCI conference room on Monday April 4th 2022, the Chairman of the board, Engr. Femi Babalola who coincidentally is an Old Boy, reported that he was directed by the President GCIOBA, Dr. Wale Babalakin, to brief the board on the handing over matter. The PTA chairmen present at the meeting requested for the MOU signed with the Government for us to see the details inside the document. To our surprise, the request was declined by the Chairman but we were rather referred to the Government of Oyo State for the details of the MOU. With this reaction, the PTA as a body saw this as a ploy to hide certain things from the public which calls for greater concern.
6) It is on record that Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA) has a big hall that generates money for them periodically. The hall has generated almost Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) between the month of January and March this year. Sadly enough, the school authority are made to pay for the services of this hall for programs like Valedictory service and the likes. Over the years, money generated from this enterprise is kept solely with the association and nothing goes to the government as a form of tax or revenue. It is believed that the same mindset is going to be replicated in the running of the College, thereby, the public will be shortchanged.
7) Also, the College is to be run as an elitist school as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) claims that Government College, Ibadan will be for the GIFTED thereby creating inequality and discrimination in our educational system.
8) The original intent and purpose of making the College a Ministry of Education controlled school have been defeated. Government College, Ibadan serves as a learning ground and a training school for the Education Officers who will in turn become Inspectors of Education and Policy Makers in the nearest future.
9) A lot of Interventions are going on in the College premises from different sources like CBN, Ogun Osun River Basin Authority, Corporate bodies and some individuals. Besides, most of the projects and interventions ascribed to GCIOBA are embarked upon by individual Old Boys’ and various Class Sets as a way of giving back to their Alma Mata not as a body as claimed by the proponents of this narrative. The issue now is that all these interventions will now be taken over by the Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA).
10) However, we wish to bring to the notice of Your Excellency, the wrong information being circulated to malign the government of Oyo State by the GCIOBA for being the one responsible for the provisions of teachers in the college for many years. Prior to the free education policy of the current administration, the PTA had a total of Fifty (50) teachers in its payroll and before the recruitment of new Education Officers by this current administration, the GCIOBA had Sixteen (16) teachers. Presently, GCIOBA has only Four (4) teachers left in their payroll, three (3) of them were engaged as Education Officers while the rest have left their services. Does the earlier information correct?
11) Equally too, a lot of giant strides have been put in place by the Oyo State Government to put the College in enviable position. This includes posting of over One Hundred (100) Education Officers to Government College, Ibadan out of the newly recruited over Six Hundred (600) Education Officers by the Oyo State Government. Similarly, Oyo SUBEB recently constructed a block of classrooms and digging of modern Borehole in the school. A large number of students’ chairs and tables were recently supplied to Government College, Ibadan by the Oyo State Government to make learning convenient for the students.
12) Government College, Ibadan is a brand that serves as the face of Oyo State. Secondly, Government College, Ibadan is a community based College built with tax payers’ money to serve both the low and the high in the society. Is the government ready to compensate all other stakeholders who have invested in the school over the years like the old students?
13) Privatisation has not had the result of turning Africa’s state owned enterprises around. High-profile cases of ruthless institutions that use their despicable schemes to steal taxpayers’ money and public asset are always in the news and books. Political and economic challenges facing the sale of these gargantuan state assets often lead to faulty privatisation. And in many instances, the process of privatizing them was never completed following global best practices
14) The introduction of the model of third party government at Government College Ibadan is another blunder that must be avoided. The land on which the school was built was given to Oyo state government for overriding public interest and not to serve any personal/private interest.
15) If the college is created for the people in the public interest then it is not the third party government (especially the monopoly service sector) that will change purpose of the establishment of the college when the Government is alive to his responsibilities.
16). As of today, the College belongs absolutely to Oyo State Government. However, it is our humble submission that all facilities on the school land belong to the state and they are public assets. The public asset at Government College Ibadan regardless of who built it, his or her intention, belongs to the people of Oyo state by extension the State holds the land/asset in trust.
17) Government College Ibadan was established and created in interest of the people and for the people, and not for any private institution. The college was never the creation of the current old students Association who are clamoring to take over the college.
18) Acknowledgement is made to our children who are giving back (making donations) to the hand that fed them. Unfortunately, the model of the third party government opens a door for scammers, who capitalize on donors’ goodwill to line their pockets and take over the public asset without following the complete due process. Your Excellency stated and quote “..a great education are not rural or urban issues; they are Oyo State issues”
19) If as of today, Government College Ibadan belongs to Oyo state government by law same cannot be given to a private individual or body without amending the extant education laws that are in force in Oyo State. Chapter 2, Section 18, subsection (1) (2) (3) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria section 1 states;
i. Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal educational opportunities at all levels
ii. Government shall promote science and technology
iii. Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and to this end government shall as when practicable provide:
iv. a) free, compulsory and universal Primary education.
b) free University education and
c) free adult literacy programme.
20) There is no law in Oyo state that empowers the Governor to give a public school out to the old students and as a matter of fact it is unlawful for the Governor to unilaterally cede the school that was established by extant education laws in Oyo state to an organization unknown to law in Oyo state.The handover of Government College Ibadan to any association or institution is absurd. Privatization of School State asset? A Theatre of the Absurd and a comedy of errors and blunders!
21) The handover of the College to some for-profit executives/associations is a comedy of errors. But why don’t they (the profit making organization) organize one from scratch? Besides, the structure of Governing Board proposed in the Agreement is not different from the structure of Governing Board in operation in all the Public Secondary Schools across Oyo State. Therefore, why the need for the takeover of the College? More importantly, Agreement signed without contributions from relevant agencies, stakeholders and the public (the great people of Oyo State) is a nullity.
22) The planned hand over and takeover of the college using the strategy of the platform of old students claiming to be non-profit while operating as a profit making organization without adopting necessary financial controls of extant financial laws and regulation of the State. The promise of complying with the free education policy of the Oyo State Government is a bait and it does not reduce the likelihood that they will not engage in predatory behavior that harms the student, the school, the community and the people of Oyo State in general. Takeover of public asset without following the complete due process have characteristics that are cause for concern.
23) Any stakeholder or institutions that have donated one facility or the other to the college and later lay claim to the facilities as its investment or asset is a fraud. Over the past 9 decades of the existence of Government College Ibadan various stakeholders have partnered with the Government for the enhancement of the success of the students and facilities expansion in various ways. The Parents in the college and their children who have passed through the college have contributed, donated and supported the school in sum worth billions of naira in the past decades of establishment of the college.
24) Parents have become more aware of the deceptive practices employed by bad actors in the for-profit sector to take undue advantage of the public assets in the college, the people and the Government.
Parents have never said they were tired of supporting the Government until the present administration publicly announced the taking of responsibility for financing education in the State. It is quite unfortunate to hear in the news that “the State Government needed over N40 billion to take the education sector to the barest minimum standard. And that it was clear from the beginning that the State could not do it alone” Punch, 34th March, 2022
25) Apart from parents’ role of bringing their children to school in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Oyo State Education laws, the parents carry out employment of PTA teachers for almost all subject areas and non teaching staffs as well as organizing training, seminars and workshop for our teachers, repairs of furniture and some school building structure, construction of toilets in Junior Schools and refurbishing of toilets in Senior School etc, These activities and others were carried out in the school before the Government gave a relief by employing additional education officers. PTA equally was fully on ground to lend helping hands to Oyo State Government during the ravaging COVID 19 pandemic by donating materials to the school.
26) Beware of ruthless institutions that use despicable schemes to scam the good people and take over public assets. It is bizarre for GCIOBA to claim ownership of the following projects in the college.
i. Donation of Internet Facilities by IPNX equally enjoyed by GCIOBA Museum
ii. Provision of Solar Powered Computer Sets by NCC
iii. Donation of Computer Complex by SHELL
iv. Provision of Vocational Center at the Main Gate by NCC
v. Two Hostels renovated & maintained with provision of beddings by two individuals (Mr. Sarumi & Mr. Yemi Idowu)
vi. Provision of Cricket pitch by Mr. Odibo
vii. One Hundred Pairs of Furniture singlehandedly provided by 1985 Set.
viii Thirty Pairs of Furniture singlehandedly provided by 1996 Set.
ix Provision of Solar Powered Electricity for the Admin Block by 1981 Set.
x Provision of Solar Powered Borehole for the School, courtesy Ogun Osun River Basin Authority
xi Scholarship awards to indigent but brilliant students of Government College Ibadan by DJ Bullock Foundation headed by Mr. Banwo Smith.
xii Provision of School Uniforms for selected students by 1991 January Set (Likeminds)
xiii Provision of A block of Classroom in GCI Junior School 2; singlehandedly built from scratch by 1980 Class Set to commemorate their 40th Anniversary
27) Do relevant government agencies (Education, the Internal Revenue Service, State Auditor General Office, State Surveyor General office, Ministry of Lands etc) perform their necessary oversight to prevent self-dealing, document essential information such as the appraisal of the college’s value? Does the kind of investment they (for- profit Executives or Associations) are bringing on board match up with what is on ground presently at the college?
28) Privatization of public schools in the state may spring up unprecedented crisis in the State, as we heard on good authority that some members of public, especially the communities who donated its land to the Government for public use are against the takeover of public schools by for- profit Executives or Associations and which may adversely affect this government thereby eroding all the gains and achievements achieved by this government in the last three years.
Having considered the above factors, this is our humble prayer.
PRAYER:
We want Government College Ibadan to stay public
We want the relevant agencies to beam their searchlight on the activities of the Old boys at Government College Ibadan.
The Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue to look into the affairs of the Profit making Hall erected on Government landed property without any returns to the State Government, in terms of taxes or revenue.
The Auditor General to look into the acclaimed Balanced Sheet of the association on how they generate funds and how the billions of naira spent over the years are sourced.The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, the Office of the Surveyor General and the Office of the Auditor General to document and evaluate all the assets of Government College Ibadan and differentiate it from the assets of the Association.
The Government should ensure that no asset of Government College Ibadan is used to obtain loan or used as collateral in whatever circumstances.
Government to call for stakeholder’s meeting to address the educational situation in the State in order to find a lasting solution to the inadequate funding and save the State from opportunists.
APPRECIATION
We are grateful for Your Excellency’s provision of a better and qualitative education for our children through construction of classrooms, provision of books, chairs and benches to meet their educational needs at zero cost. We equally express our heartfelt appreciation for the recruitment of Education Officers to cater for the shortage of personnel in our various schools across the State.
