See The Oyo School That Continues To Remain In Ruins Despite Millions Of Naira Budgetary Provision (Photos)

 

The buildings are dilapidated and dirty. The roofs decayed and some caving in, and the walls damp and ornamented by matured algae. This description is that of a secondary school in Nigeria’s self-styled Pacesetter State. And the year is 2018.

 

Interestingly, the House of Representatives in 2016 allocated fund for the construction of a block of two classrooms in the school, Methodist Secondary School, Fiditi. It was part of the constituency projects of the representative of Oyo Federal Constituency, Hakeem Adeyemi, a member of the All Progressives Congress who is also a son of the foremost traditional ruler in the state, the Alaafin of Oyo.

 

Located on the old Oyo-Ibadan expressway in a community of about 12,000 residents in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State, South-west Nigeria, the school in Fiditi has no fence. Though the school was on holiday during a visit, PREMIUM TIMES gained access to the school but found no one to talk to. An inspection of the premises revealed no new block of classrooms or even foundation for one.

 

The newspaper had earlier inspected the outcome of a similar constituency project at Alaafin High School in neighbouring Oyo and hometown of Mr. Adeyemi. There, the classrooms were constructed and furnished. So what is holding back the other part of the project at Methodist Secondary School, Fiditi?

 

 

In the 2016 federal government budget, N15 million was approved as constituency project for new classrooms in Alaafin High School, Oyo, and Methodist Secondary School, Fiditi.

 

Constituency projects are inserted by lawmakers in the federal budget to ensure that all constituencies across Nigeria have government presence with tangible projects. They have been controversial and are sometimes characterised by corruption especially as the lawmaker for each constituency works with the relevant government agency to execute the project including nominating the contractor for it.

 

The two school projects in Oyo and Fiditi are part of Mr. Adeyemi’s constituency projects and are reflected in the 2016 approved budget.

 

 

PREMIUM TIMES set out for the two sites in January 2018 to track the implementation status. The inspection confirmed that a block of two classrooms had been duly constructed at Alaafin High School, Oyo and commissioned in May 2017. But the case at the other site of the project is different. No new classrooms were constructed in the dilapidated Fiditi school despite the budgetary provision.

 

 

A man in his early 40s, Victor Oyelayo, was the first respondent the reporter found close to the school. He made no attempt to conceal his anger over the failure to execute a project in his town for which fund was allocated. He felt cheated, he said.

 

“I am aware there was provision for this project but I don’t know why we have not seen the evidence of such project. I heard that of Alaafin (the Oyo school) and I have been to Alaafin to see for myself what was done. Why the project in our town was not implemented is a question for which we have not been able to find answers all these days,” Mr. Oyelayo said.

 

PREMIUM TIMES next spoke with some young persons at a location about one kilometre from the school in Fiditi. They all said they were aware of the project and referred the reporter to officials of Fiditi Progressive Union, a group in the town.

“We know there was provision for the project, the lawmaker said fund was released only for one out of two, (the) reason why fund was released for one and not for (the other) remains a confusion for us here,” the union official said in anguish.

 

 

 

“The whole community relies on the school, and if not for the intervention of the school’s governing board who recently renovated a building and several other interventions from residents community leaders, the school would be in ruins,” a staff of the school told Premium Times.

 

“Only one block of classrooms remains now. It requires the efforts of parents here to keep this last block of classrooms standing. The roofs of the buildings fell off. The children have moved because only this block remains. Look at the other buildings, they have fallen into decrepit conditions,’’ the staff lamented, asking not to be named because she was not authorised to speak to journalists.

 

A woman, who said her child attends the school, bemoaned its condition.

 

 

The parent also begged government to provide roads, electricity, a higher institution of learning and jobs in the community.

 

 

However, despite the budgetary provision, evidence suggests there might have been no corruption involved as not all the budgeted sum was released, a general problem that characterised the implementation of the 2016 budget.

 

“Go to UBEC and ask them how much they released for the project,” the lawmaker representing the constituency, Mr. Adeyemi, said when interviewed.

 

 

A separate enquiry to UBEC confirmed Mr. Adeyemi’s stance.

 

UBEC’s response was to a Freedom of Information request by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, PTCIJ. UBEC is the implementing agency for the construction of the new classrooms allocated to the two schools.

 

Responding to the request, UBEC revealed that N11.6 million (N11,580,000) was released for the project, but all was spent on the construction of the two classrooms at Alaafin High School, Oyo. The project was awarded to Heavens Global Concepts LTD.

 

The agency said it did not award any contract for the project in Methodist Secondary School, Fiditi under the 2016 constituency projects.

 

 

However, while there might have been no wrongdoing or misappropriation of funds, parents of the Fiditi school continue to lament the situation there.

 

“We are fed up on the issue of this project. Why is our case different?” Mr. Olanipekun said.

 

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Culled from PREMIUM TIMES