By Abdulqaudri Mahmud
Before well-meaning Kwarans sacked the Saraki-led People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019, the education system of Kwara state wasn’t something one could be proud of. Saraki shared the funds that would have been used to better our education system among his followers and took a reasonable part of it for himself. It was, for this reason, UBEC blacklisted Kwara. Thanks to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for paying UBEC the billions of naira Saraki and his boys carted away from the state’s coffers. Now, UBEC has relisted Kwara as one of the states that will be benefiting from its grants.
However, since Kwara state was entered back into the beneficiary states list, AbdulRazaq has been using the money he received as expected and judiciously. A few months ago, members of the federal house of representatives commended him for repositioning the education system of the state. Also, UBEC commended him for his Midas touch on the state’s education system. This essayist also commends him for not towing the path of Bukola Saraki and Abdul Fatah Ahmed who fed fat on the money many Kwarans expected them to invest in the state’s education.
The state of the education system of Kwara state before AbdulRazaq is public knowledge. The sacked Saraki dynasty and PDP left our education in a sorry state. Over 2,000 public schools in the state were left in decrepit conditions. There were cases of schools with dilapidated buildings. Some schools didn’t have chairs, windows, and learning materials. There were schools where the students studied under trees because their classrooms were more like death traps. Or, how do you describe classrooms where the ceilings and the walls were competing with who to fall first?
To make the matter worse, Former Governor Abdul Fatah Ahmed owed teachers several months’ salaries and refused to pay them even though some teachers were reported to have been taking their lives over the non-payment of their salaries. He refused to pay their salaries even though some of them were reported to have turned to banks for loans. This is to tell how the Kwara PDP made a mess of our education system. Unfortunately, this shameless party is planning to come back. May the Saraki-led PDP not happen to Kwara again. Say amen.
Under the leadership of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the education system is back on its feet within three years. AbdulRazaq is implementing KwaraLEARN and its purpose is to give our children in public schools the quality education they deserve. Also, this administration has fixed over 600 schools including the construction of new blocks of classrooms. Let’s not forget that the opposition PDP couldn’t fix these schools in their 16 years of aggressively stealing from the coffer of this state.
GSS. Alapa, Asa, AISS Laduba, Asa, GHS Ilorin, Ilorin West, IGS Ilorin, Ilorin West, Okelele Ilorin East, GDSS Omode Ilorin South, GDSS Tanke, Ilorin South, GSS, Malete, Moro, GDSS Okuta, Baruten, PSS Patigi, Patigi, GSS Yashikira, Baruten, IGS, Offa, CSS, Offa, GSS, Offa, ACC, Offa, Moremi HS, Offa, Okin HS, Offa, BGS Igbaja, Ifelodun, CSS Omi-Aro, Ifelodun, to mention but few have been renovated and equipped with learning materials by the AbdulRazaq-led government and the governor has not stopped working.
AbdulRahman AbulRazaq’s commendable achievements in education are part of the reasons Kwarans are rooting for his election. This forthcoming gubernatorial election is between AbdulRazaq and the enemies of Kwarans who destroyed the Kwara education system before they were sacked in 2019. And one good thing about the election is that Kwarans are wiser; they will never waste their votes on a party that has no good plans for the state other than to steal from its coffers.
Abdulqaudri Mahmud writes from Ilorin East LGA, Zango Ward, Ilorin Kwara state
