KEMI OLAITAN examines recent policies of the Abiola Ajimobi-led All Progressives Congress, APC, administration in Oyo State, aimed at reducing the cost of governance.
Since the inauguration of elected governors across the country on May 29, either for first term or second term, most of them have embarked upon various cost saving measures given the dwindling resources from the federal allocation. The Oyo State government under the leadership of Governor Abiola Ajimobi is not left out of this as it last week rolled out measures which it said were unavoidable at this period. First on the list was the stoppage of payment of West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, WASSCE, registration fees for students in the state.
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The state Head of Service, HoS, Mr. Soji Eniade, who made the disclosure in a statement issued in Ibadan, the state capital, said the stoppage, which was due to the current financial status of the state, would be with effect from the 2015/2016 academic session, adding that students would henceforth pay the sum of N3,000 annually as education development levy in all public schools in the state. The HoS said the payment, which would be in three instalments of N1,000 per term, would be utilised to compliment government’s effort at improving the infrastructure of public secondary schools.
He further added that the state government has completed arrangements to partner with interested stakeholders in the management and administration of public secondary schools in the state.
Another measure also announced by the state government to save money was the stoppage of sponsoring pilgrims on holy pilgrimage. Secretary of the state Pilgrims Welfare Board, Muslim wing, Alhaji Abdulkarim Adeleke, who made the disclosure, said the state government cancelled the sponsorship of pilgrims to Hajj due to economic difficulties.
He said of the 1,241 pilgrims assigned to the state by the National Hajj Commission, NAHCO, for 2015 Hajj, none of the intending pilgrims was sponsored by government as the intending pilgrims are mostly self-sponsored. While justifying the cost saving measures, Governor Ajimobi said the decision to stop the payment of WASSCE fee and the introduction of N3,000 annual developmental levy for the pupils are temporary.
He said, the decisions were borne out of the economic reality in the state and the desire to address the abysmal performance of candidates in the examination. He said the decision to introduce the levy was taken after it was discovered that parents no longer involve themselves in the education of their children, stating that the Parents’ Teachers’ Association, PTA, and community leaders were consulted before the decisions were taken.
He said: “With the paucity of fund in the state, we had to face the reality that we could not continue to sponsor children without involving their parents in a way. This is why we introduced the developmental levy. It’s just for a period of time; as soon as things improve for the state financially, we will put it down.
It is an emergency situation that we must address. Training of children is not the sole responsibility of government or teachers, parents must play their role too. “We discussed with the parents and realised that because parents are not involved in secondary education of their children, they no longer bother what happens to them. We set up a committee to discuss with PTA, community leaders, individual parents and so on. Interestingly, many of the parents felt that if they were also contributing by paying something, they would be more attentive to the education of their children.”
Maintaining that the levy was agreed with the parents, Ajimobi said government was aware of what he called ‘political backlash,’ adding: “The N3,000 levy was equally jointly agreed upon, but I must point out that the emergency situation will not be forever. We envisage political backlash on the decision but we cannot promise what we cannot afford. Oyo State now earns around N3 billion from federal allocation, while we have a wage bill of more than N5 billion.
Our Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, is N1 billion; so every month, we will continue to owe if we don’t adjust our spending.” True to the governor’s prediction that the cost saving measures will receive backlash from opposition parties, the backlash not only rained, it has continued to pour every day. The first salvo came from the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which came hard on the state government, saying the cost saving measures were indictments on how badly Governor Ajimobi, has run the state in the last four years.
The PDP in a statement issued by its state chairman, Alhaji Yinka Taiwo, while expressing dissatisfaction with the poor state of the economy given by the state government for the cost saving measures, said government’s inability to properly plan for the future and its crass dependence on federal allocations brought the state to its present sorry state. He said with such cost saving decisions that will hurt the people of the state, the APC-led government has proven to the people that it is deceptive, dishonest and incapable of leading the state successfully.
Taiwo compared Governor Ajimobi to King Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:11, who immediately after ascending the throne promised to add to the people’s yoke, noting that it is curious that the governor, despite not paying salaries as and when due and running an economy that is harsh to the survival of businesses, has decided to pile more woes on the people with such harsh.
He said: “It is not only shameful that Ajimobi, who promised free and qualitative education, has cancelled the payment of WASSCE fees and reintroduced school fees, it is appalling that under his watch, the educational standard of the state has gone down, with the state coming a distant 34th and failing to meet the national average, which was 31.29 per cent in the 2014 WASSCE results.
And we must add that we are not surprised that Ajimobi cancelled the sponsorship of pilgrims to the Holy Land, a worthy idea that the PDP never failed to sustain in all its eight years in government, the incumbent state government is only living up to expectations as a government without human face.”
But while reacting to the criticism through its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Olawale Sadare, the state APC, described the opposition as bad losers and hypocrites who were always united by the urge to promote irrational agenda with a view to setting the people against the person of Ajimobi and the APC. Sadare said: “The governor had stated that the measures were temporary as the palliatives would not only be restored soon but many more are to be added to better the lots of the people.
The two painful decisions were taken as the last resort in view of the desire to take the state out the current economic imbroglio as quickly as possible. In all honesty, Governor Ajimobi deserves accolades for resisting the temptation to agree with some concerned individuals and groups who had come up with pieces of advice considered inevitable for the state to jerk up its IGR at all cost, but the governor, out of his love for the masses, declined to accept most of the suggestions made, as he was of the opinion that such would aggravate the suffering of the common man.
“We recall that the state government had earlier taken major measures in that direction and these include; reduction of cost of governance which brought about the pruning of ministries from 23 to 13, stoppage of daily feeding of fasting residents at Government House and distribution of food items to the needy during Ramadan fast, postponement of all political appointments, turning down sponsorship requests from many partners and non-governmental organisations, NGOs.
“Interestingly, all of these had little or no direct negative effect on the common man and it was when further measures were needed to be introduced that the governor considered the options of non-payment of WASSCE fees and stoppage of pilgrimage sponsorship.
“In view of the foregoing, it amounts to sheer hypocrisy and height of irresponsibility on the part of opposition elements, if they chose taking the advantage of the current situation to display their hatred for the people. The question on the lips of the people is that; what difference did the PDP make in the life of the state in its eight years combined rule? Between 2003 and 2011 that the PDP was in the saddle; values were not only eroded and peace vacated the land, resources of the state were plundered while the economic base of Oyo State was badly depleted.
“That was an era when shares of government in blue chip companies were sold and proceeds siphoned, even as government lands and properties taken over by private individuals. The consequences of all these and many more left the state stranded as it began to survive only on handouts from the Federal Government.”
The criticism did not however abate as a group, Change Agent Movement, CAM, called on the people of the state to prepare for the worst under the Ajimobi administration, as he would only aggravate their suffering and hardship during his second term in office, instead of alleviating it.
CAM, in a release issued by its chairman and secretary, Messrs Abolaji Adeosun and Malik Adehun, respectively, said the government’s cost saving measures are just tip of the iceberg among anti-people’s policies to be introduced by the governor, adding that it is a great disservice to the people for someone who had barely been visible in the state in the last three months to be introducing policies that would further add to the existing hardship faced by the people.
CAM said: “It is rather unfortunate for a government who does not see the urgency in paying workers’ outstanding salaries despite the Federal Government’s bail out, to be introducing anti-people policies. Just about two months ago, the governor withdrew the free transport buses given to workers for no just cause.
“This same Ajimobi administration has embarked on workers’ verification exercise while it hasn’t produced the results of the last verification or accounted for the funds used for the last verification exercise. Even the loot recovered for the state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which was claimed to have been expended on model schools are not visible.
“Nobody is saying it is mandatory for government to pay WASSCE fees and provide free education for anyone, but we get pained because this same administration who used a welfarist toga during electioneering process to seek for people’s votes has suddenly turned around imposing anti-people’s policies.”
On its part, an umbrella organisation of professional and business women under the auspices of Women In Oyo State, WIOS, appealed to the national leadership of the APC to call Governor Ajimobi to order over his retrogressive educational policies, especially the introduction of school fees.
WIOS described Ajimobi’s declaration as the worst policy summersault in the history of Yorubaland, saying the cost saving measures were not only deceitful but equally designed to retard the progress the state, known as a pacesetter. In a statement signed by Chief (Mrs) Felicia Adebimpe and Alhaja Fatimah Yusuf respectively, WIOS said recent declaration and other anti-people disposition of Ajimobi particularly in his second term, were attempts geared towards short-changing the people of the state, particularly women, who voted en-mass for the APC in the last election.
Lamenting that if any state in the South-West should contemplate such decision, it should be Osun State and not Oyo State which has more revenue from the Federation Account and higher IGR, WIOS stated that the Aregbesola administration had built over 25 state-of-the-art schools among other worthy innovations to restore the glory of education in the state.
It said: “Assuming the students population in all public schools across the state is 250,000, the Ajimobi administration would rake in N750 million in a year and a total sum of N3 billion in four years. This is less than what his government spent on the construction of Mokola Flyover which then implies that the value attached to the lives and future of these children is not worthy the value of a flyover.
“What success can Ajimobi government achieve with the targeted N3 billion, considering the level of rot and dilapidation in the education sector in the state? It is very clear that Ajimobi is not only confused but has lost the steam required of a serious government to succeed. “We therefore appeal to APC national leadership to rise up and stem the tide by prevailing on Ajimobi not to destroy the fortunes of the party in the state, since it appears he had hijacked the party.”
WIOS said its appeal became imperative for future elections in the state as the garrulous behaviour and conduct of Ajimobi in the state are akin to the dying days of the PDP in the state and it’s concomitant tragic end, wondering what has come over the governor since winning a landmark second term
It added that Ajimobi has been behaving like a bull in a Chinese shop that was ready to destroy everything in sight. Oyo State Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari and all state governors to adhere to UNESCO prescribed 26 percent budget allocation to education to rescue Nigeria’s future.
While condemning the state government’s decision to stop payment of WASSCE fee and its introduction of N3,000 as developmental fees for students across public schools in the state, SPN called for the immediate and unconditional reversal of the decisions, insisting on the need for adequate and proper funding of public education and other social services as the most reliable step towards curbing the menace of mass failure in external examination like WASSCE.
A release by SPN state secretary, Comrade Abiodun Bamgboye, faulted government’s argument that students’ unseriousness was the main cause of mass failure in WASSCE, and that such mass failure can only be curbed by combined effect of re-introducing fee in public schools and making parents responsible for payment of WASSCE fees of their children, saying the poor academic performance of students in public schools is traceable to neoliberal policies like cut in social spending on education, health care, infrastructure coupled with the commercialisation and privatisation of social services, forced by IMF and World Bank on Nigerian governments.
Bamgboye maintained that government’s decisions will no doubt increase the economic woes of workers and the poor masses in the state, noting that the population of parents of students in public schools in the state is largely public workers, retirees and poor traders and artisans who have been victims of various anti-people policies of the Ajimobi-led government right from its inception. He said the APC-led government is owing public workers and retirees over six months unpaid salaries and pensions despite the bailout fund recently approved and allegedly released to state governments by the Federal Government.
He said: “Thousands of shops/stalls belonging to poor artisans and petty traders in the state were also destroyed without either prior provision of alternatives or compensation by the Ajimobi-led government in the earliest part of its tenure. This demolition, carried out under false pretence of urban renewal policy has denied many working class homes their means of livelihood.
“As a result of these policies, public schools are today bedeviled with inadequate facilities for proper learning, teaching and research materials such as books, laboratory, and equipment. Classrooms and hostel facilities are insufficient and dilapidated, quality manpower are grossly inadequate, workers in the education sector are denied the incentives capable of encouraging improvement in their skill.
“SPN also believes that if political office holders are placed on salaries and allowances equivalent to that of civil servants, more public resources that often go to private individuals will be liberated, thus making more resources available for the proper and adequate funding of the education sector as well as other public utilities despite the decline in oil revenue.” With the government unyielding on reversing the cost saving measures, it remains to be seen whether the criticisms from the opposition will sway it to change its stand or it will remain adamant and pursue the policies to conlclusion.
