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
Source: http://www.punchng.com/opinion/osun-why-launch-opon-imo-in-lagos/
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I guess the 63 text books are for all the subjects from ss1-3.
Btw i wonder if those tablets would still be working 2yrears from now. Paper text books are more durable.

I feel Tablet without good power source(am sure most of those schools dontt have power supply to their classes), connectivity to a desktop computer and(or) access to internet(Wifi or 3G) is almost a waste.

Well, with pre-installed eBooks, let's see what students in Osun will achieve with this

https://www.facebook.com/ayo.alukoolokun/photos



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^^^^^^^^^^^ The writer is a PDP agent..



That's all..

I love the name 'opon imo'

The writer belongs to a wasted generation, he is a PDP goon, an old brat not worthy to be taken seriously, the worst part is that his criticisms lacks depth of thought.

SW PDP are bitter losers, see as dem bust their yansh

JW214: I feel Tablet without good power source(am sure most of those schools dontt have power supply to their classes), connectivity to a desktop computer and(or) access to internet(Wifi or 3G) is almost a waste.

Well, with pre-installed eBooks, let's see what students in Osun will achieve with this

Battery life should be 5-6 hrs.
They can sync with a pc for data transfer,
They have the capability to store loads of books,
You can download books free off the internet,
You can download all sorts of special apps,

The world is becoming more computer literate with every day. This seems like a good move to me.