Ondo: Harnessing The Gains Of A Teacher-Governor

By Bisi Lawani

“According to the Governor, supporting the education of the vulnerable learners is not charity, but a strategic investment in human capital and national development”

For Dr Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, Governor of Ondo State, education is not a luxury, but the most important investment a government can make. Similarly, the Governor believes that every child in the State deserves a classroom that inspires hope coupled with a teacher empowered to deliver the future.

Ondo State has been led by Governors with different professional backgrounds and each of them making frantic effort to priotize his chosen profession in policy formulation and implementation. A case study was the administration of Dr Olusegun Mimiko between 2009 and 2017 where it was evident that health sector received a boost, mainly because the Governor is a trained medical doctor and his favourable disposition effective healthcare delivery system.

Dr Aiyedatiwa’s background as a teacher guides his conviction that the strength of a state lies in the strength of its schools and that education must be treated as the foundation upon which every other sector must stand.

No doubt, present administration in Ondo State is giving priority to education, not at the expense of other sectors but due to the fact that education remains the heartbeat of the administration and as a teacher, the Governor profoundly understands that the collective future of the state rests upon a robust education sector. The education sector is now thriving, thanks to the deliberate policies and programmes being implemented by the state government. The state sector is visibly beginning to see positive changes as the government continues to prioritize it.

At the onset of his administration, the Governor promised a huge investment in education and skill development as part of his “Our Ease” Agenda. Stone upon stone, brick upon brick, with zest, determination, and rigour, he has systematically begun to reshape the architecture of one of the state’s biggest and most critical sectors.

It is believed that the surest path to success in government is appointing people who understand the mission and have the capacity to deliver. The Governor has followed the path through the appointment of a thoroughbred professional, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, a one-time Rector of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo and former Vice-Chancellor of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko as the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology. His appointment received accolades from the people due to his antecedent and track records, believing he could truly change the narrative. And indeed, he has not disappointed the people.

Within a few months, the Governor directed a comprehensive overhauling of the sector by banning illegal fees in all secondary schools in the state and streamlining the operations of private school owners. This strategic move is geared towards making life easier for parents and guardians who send their children to schools in Ondo State. This policy has continued to yield good results, as parents and guardians are now well informed about the maximum payable fees stipulated by the government.

In a bid to strengthen Secondary Education in the State, the Governor approved the establishment of the Ondo State Senior Secondary School Education Board (OSSSEB)—an approval that had been pending for over 10 years. The establishment of the Board is signal to the commitment of the State Government to quality, standard and excellence in the final stage of basic learning. This action is a direct response to the Federal Government’s directive that all states provide a 5% counterpart fund to support infrastructural development in their secondary schools. With this new lease of life for senior secondary education, through the establishment of the Ondo State Senior Secondary School Education Board, schools in the state will now undergo significant transformation by partnering the National Senior Secondary School Commission (NSSEC).According to the Executive Secretary of NSSEC,  Dr Iyela Ajayi, “Ondo State is one of the few states that have approved the establishment of the board in the country”. As a result, the Executive Secretary promised that the state will host the zonal office of the Commission in the Southwest.

Aside the establishment of the Board, which will cater for the infrastructural development of secondary schools, the Governor, has also commenced major construction and renovation works in some secondary schools. As it stands today, approximately 75 renovation projects are ongoing in some public secondary schools, and another 45 projects are underway in the five technical schools across the state.

The scope of construction and renovation works ranges from building of new classrooms and renovation of existing ones, equipping laboratories, provision of ICT materials and perimeter fencing of schools.Just recently, the Governor flagged off the disbursement of over Three Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N350m) to more than 11,000 students for scholarship awards, bursaries, and financial assistance to indigent students and students living with disabilities in tertiary institutions across the country through the State Scholarship Board. Another N286.7 million was also disbursed under the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) to 4,873 students from the oil-producing areas of the state.

According to the Governor, supporting the education of the vulnerable learners is not charity, but a strategic investment in human capital and national development. Being an empathetic person, he understands the challenges faced by children from poor families who seek education and thus introduced the payment of reasonable financial aid for indigent students. He explained during the disbursement ceremony that the policy was aimed at ensuring that no child from the state is denied education due to financial hardship.Since the inception of this government, recruitments have taken place in different sectors, such as health and agriculture, but the most significant one is the recruitment of 2,000 teachers into primary and secondary schools in the state.

Prior to the recruitment exercise, Governor Aiyedatiwa had expressed concern over shortage of teaching staff in public schools in the state, particularly in rural communities, which informed his approval of the recruitment. He directed that the recruitment process must be strategically based on the peculiar needs of the understaffed schools across the state.The Governor also approved the payment of N633  million for the registration of students in public schools for the 2025  West African Examination Council’s Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).A couple of weeks ago, Ondo State hosted the 69th National Council of Education (NCE) Meeting, which is the national decision making body in the education sector in the country, making it the first time the state will host an event of such magnitude in its almost 50 years of existence. The key decisions in the education sector were made on the soil of Ondo State. Thanks to our amiable governor, who gave the opportunity to the state. There is no better time for the education sector to thrive than now. It truly takes a Governor who understands the fundamental problems of the sector to tackle them effectively, and Governor Aiyedatiwa is doing it right.

Bisi Lawani,Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.