Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, TKF at his Tuesday May 10, 2022 declaration to run for the governorship seat of Oyo State in the upcoming 2023 polls informed the teeming party faithfuls gathered at the All Progressive Congress party secretariat at Oke-Ado, Ibadan and the good people across the length and breadth of Oyo State of his aim to, “form a PACT with them brokered by an invaluable blueprint that is anchored on a RESCUE MISSION” in response to “ceaseless calls to rescue our dear state from the claws of one of the most visionless governments ever in her history.”
One can imagine that many of those calls will be from the perceptive citizens of Oyo State expressing their outrage and concern at the accelerated underdevelopment of education in Oyo State, the worst hit being primary and secondary school education although tertiary institutions are by no means spared.
A cursory interrogation of the indices of quality education reveals that education systems are typically analysed in terms of context, specific inputs, social and institutional processes and outputs or outcomes. In other words, quality education is engendered on a combination of constants which must include adequate infrastructures; well equipped classrooms with comfortable furniture and working tools for both teachers and students as exemplified by the model schools initiatives of the past administration. There must also be the application of well thought out institutional processes; policies and programmes for example, the School Governing Board initiative also of the past progressive administration in Oyo State which was initially rashly cancelled by the government of Seyi Makinde, then reluctantly restored in a most blatant and shameless policy summersault.
An objective look at the current state of education in Oyo State under the government of Seyi Makinde reveals that he has no clear vision of what quality education entails beyond the removal of school fees and the regular payment of teachers salaries.
The present state of dilapidation of school buildings and the state of disrepair of many classrooms in public schools across Oyo State coupled with the lack of comfortable furniture in many of them cannot augur well for the educational development Oyo State needs and deserve. On top of all that, students cannot be properly evaluated because students report cards provision are not prioritized.
It is sad to note that the funds that was supposed to be used in buying report cards, provide good and comfortable furniture for the students is being used to purchase street credibility and milage on the radio (and recently established television) of a certain radio and television owner cum purported human rights activist whose media platforms are being used to bamboozle the public after he had been ‘settled’ by inflated exercise books supply contracts awarded in contravention of all public procurement laws and ethics.
Small wonder the radio station goes overboard in singing the praises of this visionless administration claiming they are broadcasting in public interest, while all the time, it is simply about the owner’s personal interest and monetary gains. Obviously, anything aired on that radio about the Seyi Makinde led government needs to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.
The good people of Oyo State have come to understand that in Seyi Makinde, they have a governor who thinks they are gullible and cannot see below the surface. A governor who thinks all that is needed is to have paid people propagate his visionless mantras on radio, television and social media as a means of purchasing the people’s vote. Testament to this unfortunate fact is the upward review of the stipends of members of Senior Advocates of GSM, his social media team, from N10,000 to N25,000 in the morning of Thursday May 12, 2022, just two days after Sen Teslim Folarin declared his intention to rescue Oyo State from his directionless leadership.
However, the good people of Oyo State are wiser than that, public interest will dictate their vote in 2023 and they are signing up in droves and thousands as active supporters of the TKF led rescue mission.
