About two months ago, around March 20,
the public was inundated with a news report that the Osun State
Government had commenced the distribution of its computer learning
tablets tagged “Opon Imo” to secondary school pupils. Photographs of
some pupils of Ataoja School of Science, Osogbo were shown and the
Deputy Governor who also doubles as Commissioner for Education confirmed
that the “Opon Imo” project had taken off.
One was, therefore, surprised to read
last week that the same “Opon Imo” computer learning tablet was launched
again at a hotel in Lagos. Why another launch? And, why Lagos? As I
pondered over these questions, the figure of N8.6bn which the state also
said it would be saving kept flashing at me. I then remembered that
that figure appears to be growing fatter by the day. Earlier, when it
was “launched” in March, the figure bandied around as savings was
N8.2bn. I then decided to take more than a passing interest in the
matter by examining closely what has been said. My findings were quite
revealing and suggested to me that the Osun State Government has been
standing truth on its head with the so-called savings from textbooks.
The savings could not have added to the tune of N8.6bn as stated.
To arrive at its N8.6bn, the state
government said 150,000 pupils would be supplied with the tablets and
each tablet is loaded with 63 textbooks and that each textbook costs an
average of N1,000.00. By inference, the state government wants us to
believe that it spends about N63,000 on the textbooks of each child in
the Senior Secondary class. That claim is bogus and cannot be correct.
What is correct is that each child sits for an average of eight to nine
subjects and may not require more than an average of three books per
subject. Therefore, the maximum number (average) of textbooks required
by a pupil would be 27 textbooks. Even at the cost of N1,000.00 per
textbook, that gives you N27,000.00 and if you multiply this by 150,000
pupils, it gives you about N4bn. So, where did these bogus savings of
N8.6bn come from? One hopes this is not a ploy to perpetrate fraud and
or a conduit to siphon money out of the state.
There can only be one motive for
bloating the figure (so that it sounds big) and for taking the launch to
Lagos; propaganda. This is a technique in propaganda aimed at appealing
to emotion with the aim of swaying the opinion of an audience. Osun
State has been awash with several of such in recent time. Without doubt,
the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, has a public perception
challenge. For most part of his government’s almost three years tenure,
the governor has put the state in the news more for the wrong reasons
than the right reasons. Indeed, redeeming that image is one of the
biggest headaches of the Action Congress of Nigeria in Osun State today
and no amount of re-christening by any denomination can wash off that
negative toga. Time is also running out to do this.
How do I mean? I was privileged to sit
beside a top politician from Lagos State at a function recently. In the
first 20 minutes of our interaction, I could not contain the barrage of
questions hauled at me about Aregbesola: Is it true that the governor
wants to Islamise Osun State? Is it true he has not performed
satisfactorily? Is it true workers are on strike and all the tertiary
institutions are shut down? Is it true he has mortgaged the future of
generations unborn with huge debts? Is it true…? His series of questions
suggested to me the deep-seated apprehension in the ACN camp about the
governor’s re-election bid.
I tried to answer some of his questions
but his quick summary and verdict were: “I think Aregbesola started
wrongly and wasted his time trying to probe the previous government”. I
could not disagree with him. Indeed, Aregbesola started driving the
vehicle of the state using his inner mirror that only sees the back and
not the front. He got carried away by the applause that greeted his
victory at the Court of Appeal and started nailing the “coffin” with
which he thought he had buried the Peoples Democratic Party. He forgot
that he would not be assessed by the outcome of his probes. He wasted so
much time stereotyping every PDP member as a non-performer. He was busy
destroying the characters of others using different models of
propaganda. He never knew his antics would soon become cliché but now he
is paying the price. He is facing the revolt of the people with strikes
and demonstrations everywhere.
It was then it occurred to me that his
government coming to Lagos to launch the “Opon Imo” tablet was to extend
his propaganda machinery to a Lagos audience that appears to have
written him off. But there is a limit to propaganda. Very soon all his
card-stacking will be exposed. The government would need to come out
clean on some of these issues that involve money and whose figures are
being juggled. Very soon, the citizens of Osun State would demand for
what has been done with their resources in four years, just like
Aregbesola and the ACN were asking the immediate past former governor
before he came out clean before Aregbesola’s probe panel.
Ironically too, the state government is
recommending the “Opon Imo” to other states of the federation for a
bandwagon effect. Who would buy a scheme that is still experimental? No
serious government wants to toy with the lives and future of its
pupils. The Osun State Government has also not told Nigerians the other
side or the negative sides of this “Opon Imo”. There is the challenge of
power supply, and there is the need for these pupils to print out
important parts of the textbooks for memorisation and easy study, yet
there are no printers. Many more issues remained unanswered.
The main concern of our people today is
that the government should stop overstating its “achievements”, if any.
The government is being challenged to come out clean and prove to Osun
State citizens how it is saving N8.6bn annually with the abolition of
textbooks and the introduction of “Opon Imo”. How much is the total
annual budget of the Ministry of Education? Please, let all this
propaganda stop.
•Aluko-Olokun, a journalist and public affairs analyst based in Lagos, wrote in via ayoolokun@yahoo.com
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Did it also occur to u dt each staudent needs ten textbook for ten subjects per grade level?doesn't dt giv u 60 textbooks from jss1 to ss3?u beta check ur facts before u criticize just for criticism sake
ReplyDeleteThief. The tablet they are distributing where is the constant power that the students will use in charging it?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see how wasteful n unaccountable your governor @ Osun State is,come to Ishefun Area off Ayobo @ Ayobo- Ipaja Coucil area to see d white elephant termed jetty constructed while Aregbesola was a commissioner in Lagos State then u'll understand 'Opon Ilabe'(Soup licking Bowl)
ReplyDeleteAregbe! Aregbe!! Hun-un,the man always amused me,he always talk to glorify himself as if nobody has never done what is doing. Well, let somebody tell him to work more and shout less. Stop being controversial.
ReplyDeleteI never believed in anything free. Education is not cheap, people shoud pay for it. Government can set up a loan scheme for poor people to access and pay back layer. If the student is outstanding, he or she should not pay.
ReplyDelete