Putting in my cent worth, just how do I characterize Amosun’s government investment on education amidst its primary purse of accomplishing a charitable purpose not primarily financial gain to its droning impact? With huge lip allocation to the sector, it is not striking that our public education system is trapped far beyond other government programs malady. Suffering indigent learning facilities, dilapidated buildings, insalubrious milieu, underpay running cost, maladministration, examination irregularities and poor conduct. Heedlessly emboldening truancy and endangering the future to a hell in hand basket when all is said and done that “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” says Nelson Mandela.

Apparently, the government seems totally insensitive to the trepidation of the status quo. Instead of adopting a conservation supporting system, it floated in a grave malaise among the educationist and the unfortunates with the creation of modern schools, an extremely tenuous experiment. He failed to recall that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.Could this senescence course be a quest to make the huge lip allocation to education fast and easily perceived as a high-impacted sector or because parents did not put money where their mouths are?

It is too soon for Amosun to stop thinking of our schools that inhabited to mention a few -Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Chief M.K.O Abiola, and he before the dawn of their recorded prospective history, which of course, were mission related institutions. Established to build qualitative and worth foundation with the clear intention of meaningful contribution to philanthropic mission. Successfully, it produced those historical figures and also bridged the gap of the community and people that are poor and widely dispersed.

Consequently, it is not in question that over 43.8% credit recorded in the last conducted WASSCE was produced by the private schools. From this vantage point, do I equitably characterize our public education system as one undoubtedly living on past glories? Recent years, our public schools commonly produced outstanding results in WASSCE now suffer massive failure. Justifiably, they lack learning facilities to cut mustard with their private counterparts.

Most surprising about the aforementioned is that the said private schools hired our neglected public schools human resources on part-time to set these straight records. They facilitated this outcome with less than what a government that internally generates over N5Billion allocated to its public schools.

It is worth noting that in spite of the encomium, by all means it has, Amosun’s administration deemed it to incurred loans to directly meet with its capital projects for profitable business environment hinged upon rekindling the augmentation of internally generated revenue. Thus, the government was blank over Anthony J. D’Angelo words that “develop passion for learning and you will never cease to grow”. He neglected the deleterious effect of an uneducated environment. Lest it forget that an investment in knowledge pays the best interest

My question is whether the government that is solely interested in making profit would be willing to provide cognizance to education on similar terms? Then, perhaps, Amosun with his usual pertinacity will go superfluous length for profitable methods to invest on the exigencies of education.

Rationally, this government should not see its inability to sustain a free education as a deficiency. Rather, it should replica his Oyo counterpart. However, he should prioritize the facilitation of our schools with convincing special features – academic digitization, teacher’s well-being, convivial classrooms, first-rate computer and science laboratories, special school branding besides reinstalling the past glories to harness full potential of today’s rapidly growing sector with the highest employment. If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.

Okedara Ibrahim

Director, Procoref (Education) Limited

Views expressed are solely that of author and does not represent views of www.omojuwa.com nor its associates