The Ogun state government has abandoned N27 billion school project MAWA Foundation has learned.
The projects implemented under the leadership of Mr. Ibikunle Amosun, the former Ogun State Governor, are been criticized by residents of the state for not adding any value.
Under the deal, Amosun said 26 “world-class” model secondary schools will be built across the 20 local governments in the state. Schools the former governor said will provide quality education in the state and produce students that will be of global standard.
The Ogun state government forcefully collected farmlands from some farmers and demolish some homes to make way for the schools.
Some residents in the Oke Odo community in Ago Iwoye, Ijebu North Local Government Area, explained how their farmlands were taken over by the state government for the school project.
Mr. Ade Akinsanya, Ogun State’s commissioner for works, refused to give details of the projects on the ground that they were not carried out under his administration.
However, in the May 2012 edition of a monthly magazine published by the state’s Ministry of Information, the state claims the sum of N750 million was expended in building each of the schools.
Mr. Segun Odubela, the former Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, disclosed that apart from the N750 million expended in building each of the schools, the sum of N300 million was set aside for equipment and furniture in each of the schools.
“Each school comes to a total of N1.05 billion. The 26 schools would be a total of N27.3 billion,” Mr. Odubela said.
Tall as the projects seem, and were commissioned in 2016 by Mr. Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president the schools have no students and have since been abandoned.
Worse still, farmers and residents who lost their farmlands and houses were not compensated while the projects that the government forcefully took over their properties do not seem to have any impact on education which they were intended for.
Picture Credit: Udeme