Education Remains The Driving Force For  Development in Oyo —Makinde

..assures adequate support to GPE BESDA-AF Project in Oyo

Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, on Wednesday, said that Education remains the driver of Oyo State’s development.

The Governor, who spoke through his Deputy, Barr ‘Bayo Lawal, while hosting the members  of World Bank and Global Partnership for Education Project BESDA-AF-TESS in his office, Secretariat, Ibadan, assured adequate support to Better Education Service Delivery for All (GPE Financed Alternative Funding).

The Governor explained that his administration will continue to prioritize education, saying it remains one of the pillars of his administration.

He maintained that education is in the forefront of the present administration’s activities and is one of the main tenets of the administration’s agenda, while emphasizing that the current administration has allocated about 21 percent of its budget to education.

He pledged that the Oyo State will put in place all necessary mechanisms to ensure the successful implementation of the project in the State .

He, therefore, admonished them  not to entertain fear regarding what needed to be done as a State.

According to him, “Oyo State hosts the first university in Nigeria,  founded in 1940 , in Ibadan and the first teaching hospital , the university college, which is in Ibadan and the first research institute .

“We have attached importance to our development in education because it’s the driver for development.

“If the young ones are not educated, the future is impoverished as the State takes education significantly.

“We thank you for coming, as your coming is a reminder of what we have been doing in Nigeria. Education has impacted positively on the lives of our people, and we believe that education is sine-qua-non.

“I am reassuring you that the Oyo State Government will give adequate support for your mission. We are going to look at those areas of challenges you have identified.

In his brief remark, the commissioner for Education,  Science and Technology, Prof. Salihu Adelabu, noted that the State is working assiduously on the issue of grants disbursement and also the recruitment of primary school teachers and redeployment of teachers.

Earlier, the National Project coordinator, Dr. (Mrs.) Folake -David,  said BESDA is an educational programme geared towards providing better, accessible and equitable education to Nigerian citizens.

She revealed that the Federal Government, in collaboration with the State Government, is being assisted by the World Bank to ensure every citizen has access to qualitative education with a view to reducing the out of school children in the Country.

She said the BESDA AF-TESS, Project is being run  in the major three states: Oyo, Adamawa and Kastina, saying it is a 4-year programme, that commenced in 2022 and to be ended by October, 2025.

She explained that Oyo State has been on the top of the game but needs to move faster in the area of disbursement of grants; construction of classrooms and recruitment of Teachers to Primary Schools.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman, Oyo State Teaching Service Commission, Pastor Akinade Alamu, Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education, Dr. Nureni Adeniran and the hosts of others.