As part of his administration’s intervention in education development, Governor Seyi Makinde has renovated 105 primary schools under the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Yinka Adeniran writes
Prior to the Governor Seyi Makinde administration’s tenure, Oyo State policies on infrastructure development in schools were stagnant. However, the state has now prioritised the sector as one of the pillars of his roadmap to sustainable growth.
By 2019, Oyo State had an educational infrastructural deficit of N60 billion, but since taking office as governor, Makinde has spent about N3 billion yearly as the state counterpart and UBEC funding. In 2024, the education sector received the largest percentage of budget allocation and the second largest in the 2025 budget.
The governor, in one of his recent interviews, said his government was spending N3 billion yearly to meet the N60 billion gap. Unfortunately, it will take the state 20 years to close the deficit.
A few years ago, the governor decided to appoint a Special Adviser on Education Intervention, Suraj Tiamiyu and scheduled to spend N10 billion to N15 billion yearly to help the government bridge the gap in four years.
Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) project
Presently, the state government, in partnership with Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) through the World Bank, has just completed the renovation of 105 primary schools across the state’s three senatorial districts.
Oyo State is among the three states selected two years ago by BESDA to benefit from a $123.8 million support grant by the World Bank Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which focuses on improving basic education.
The success of the BESDA-GPE project relies heavily on transparency and project delivery. As such, the governor’s team led by Tiamiyu has now delivered 105 renovated schools in rural areas in less than six months.
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The status of rural primary schools has been a major concern for educationists for years. Some of the schools renovated were uninhabitable, but were being used by primary school children as classrooms. Qualitative education cannot be limited to a few schools in urban areas while children in rural areas are subjected to studying in inhumane conditions.
A total number of 190 schools in rural areas within the state are targeted for renovation with appropriate infrastructure under the BESDA AF-TEES. The state government renovated three classrooms with ramps access for physically-challenged pupils, procured new infrastructure such as furniture and modern boards in the classrooms, built two toilets each for males and females, sank boreholes, with the installation of solar power in each of the selected 105 schools.
The achievement lends credence to the efforts of the present administration at recording a 100 per cent literacy rate in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 7 & 14 Education for All Policy.
According to Tiamiyu, the school-Based Management Committees (SBMC), who are the community stakeholders of the renovated schools, were on ground to partner the state in ensuring the project was delivered to specifications.
He said the GPE-TEES renovated school project would help improve the quality and access to education and transform the system in the state. He noted that the completed classrooms, with their modern facilities, will in a long way address issues of out–of–school children and provide an inclusive, quality education for all children.
Besides Oyo State, the BESDA AF-TESS school renovation project is also being run in Adamawa and Katsina. It is a four-year programme that commenced in 2022 and is to be terminated by October 2025.
Reactions
One of the residents of Idi-oro Okeho, Kajola Local Government Area, Adeoti Fabiyi, on behalf of the community, thanked the state government for finding it worthy to reconstruct a befitting classroom at Community Basic School, Ido-oro/Asaka for their children.
Fabiyi said the classrooms and the basic educational amenities installed will aide learning of the children as well as improve the teaching ability of the teachers.
A parent, Mrs. Felicia Bamgbopa, who has two grandsons at NOMADIC Primary School, Suladi, in her reaction on the renovated school building, explained that the new school buildings and their compounds are beautiful and conducive.
A teacher, who does not want to be named at Oluyole Government Council Primary School, Oba Ado, stated: “Now, we teachers can teach in a proper school building with a conducive environment. Before now, everything about the job in the school was not encouraging, even the pupils stopped coming to school because there was no furniture to sit on.
Makinde’s administration’s achievements in education over the years include the construction of model schools, classrooms with toilets, the renovation of classroom blocks, installation of boreholes, and the construction of perimeter fences in schools. Aside from the recent employment of over 15,000 new teachers, the government continues to train and retrain teachers as well.
Girl-child education: Sultan pledges policies to address barriers
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has pledged the commitment of traditional and religious leaders to the implementation of policies that would address girl-child education barriers across the country.
The Sultan made the pledge in Abuja on Tuesday at a National Conference of Traditional and Religious Leaders on Girls Education and Empowerment.
The conference had as its theme “Effective Partnerships on Girls Education, Out-of School Children Education for National Development”.
The event was organised by the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE).
Sultan Abubakar said Nigerians must get ready to eliminate the barriers hindering the education of the girl-child.
“Implementation is what we need to do. And that’s why we have these leaders here to take home what we all are going to agree to do. We are very committed because it’s a guarantee that we are 100 per cent ready to implement whatever we have come up with with support of our National Assembly,” he said.
Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa disclosed that the ministry recently inaugurated the National Education Sector Renewal Initiative (NESRI) as a strategic response to address the systemic challenges facing the sector. Alausa said this was to prioritise the education of the girl-child, recognising it as pivotal to reducing the alarming number of out-of-school children and achieving national development goals. He urged traditional and faith leaders to serve as gatekeepers to communities in securing their buy-in, with a view to advancing the education of the girl-child in the country.
“For Nigeria to achieve its educational and development goals, we must move beyond policies and programmes. Continuous advocacy, sensitisation and community engagement are essential.
“Parents, women, youths, and all segments of society must see the education of the girl-child as a shared responsibility and a moral imperative,” he said.
Similarly, Country Director, World Bank, Mr. Ndiame Diop emphasised the importance of girls’ education in Nigeria.
Diop, represented by the World Bank Deputy Country Director, Taimur Samad, acknowledged the significant challenges of the girl-child, which include high dropout rates, early marriages and teenage pregnancies.
He commended the commitment of the Federal Government, state governors, and traditional leaders through AGILE programmes in reaching more than 25 million children, including 9 million adolescent girls, across 18 states.
Highlighting the progress of AGILE, he noted that more than 4 million children, including 2.2 million girls, had already benefited from improved facilities, with thousands of schools upgraded.
Diop credited the success to the critical support of traditional and community leaders, whose advocacy ensured that these initiatives were impactful.
