Osun Mega Schools: Why Aregbesolaists are against Integrity Tests

By Olusegun Adeniran

The decision of the state government of Osun to conduct durability tests on identified defective buildings in some of its schools has created another rumpus.The rumpus is the handiwork of the Rauf Aregbesolaists, a gang of political fanatics professing their loyalty to former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, a current federal minister. The Aregboslaists are unabashedly against the tests.

The question is: why are Aregboslaists fearful of the Integrity Tests to be conducted on challenged buildings? It is because they have skeletons in their compound. Simple. The mega school projects, initiated to serve as a conduit-pipe to fleece the scarce resources of the state, was wickedly inflated and was done with substandard materials by cronies and relatives of the former governor. One of the contractors has been identified as Bashiru Aregbesola, a blood relative of the embattled former governor. Documents have revealed this poignant assertion and everyone is welcome to challenge it.

Background to the issue: On February 1, 2013, the Vanguard newspaper headlined with the report of the demolition of 3,000 school buildings by the state government of Osun led by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. The government claimed then that 4,000 building were in deplorable condition and it was its plan to flatten the buildings to pave way for its planned mega schools. Many citizens of the state expressed concerns over the far-reaching destruction of the structures which they reasoned could have been renovated and be put into better use, rather than the wanton dismantling and investing humongous state resource on building white elephant projects. One of the concerned citizens was Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, former Minister for Youth Development. According to Olasunkanmi, the establishment of mega schools for a financially struggling state like Osun was a misplaced priority and might end up in mega catastrophe for the state. Nevertheless, the government did not bulge. It went ahead to obtain a loan of N16.5 billion, at a cut-throat commercial interest rate, to construct eleven (11) secondary schools, surnamed Mega Schools.

True to the predictions of many perspectival Osun citizens, the mega schools are turning out to be mega catastrophe for the state. We all woke up to a freightening "Osun Mega School Building Collapses, Injures 2" headline of July 10, 2014 of the Nigerian Tribune. What could be responsible for the collapse of an Ejigbo mega school that had not even be commissioned? Many reasons were advanced, including glaring material failures.

So on assumption of office of Governor Oyetola, successor to Aregbesola, having been inundated with complaints by a number of employed facility managers of the shocking, accelerated deterioration and alarming disintegration of some of the schools under them, Oyetola asked one of the facility managers, Engr C. B. Olajide to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the physical conditions of the 10 functional model schools and turn up the repair and rehabilitation needs. Olajide, a civil engineer, it must be noted, was a Senior Special Assistant to Rauf Aregbesola. Her report, submitted April 2019, was shocking as it was damning. She complained of wide range of defects owing to heavy usage of substandard materials. The structural concerns raised in the report, which specifically questioned the safety of occupants of two of the schools, were what made the issue be escalated to the State Executive Council by the Commissioner in charge of Education. A committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, was set up to collaborate with the contractors responsible for the construction of the schools, to ensure the concerns raised were addressed. The committee in its report called for urgent rehabilitation of some of the schools. It also recommended a durability tests be conducted on the challenged buildings. The Council, after receiving the report, directed the Ministry of Works and Transport, headed by Engr Oluremi Omowaiye, to liaise with relevant professional bodies to carry out further assessment as to the safety of the users of the facilities.

And, according to the Secretary to the State Government of Osun, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, the directive to the Ministry of Works resulted in a Committee made up of seasoned professionals, who presented a Preliminary report on October 11th, 2021 indicating that school buildings at Ikire, Ile-Ife, Osogbo and Ikirun showed some serious concerns. The building experts' report recommended further and detailed structural tests.

While Leaders of Thoughts and genuine opinion moulders have lauded the Oyetola-led government for its meticulousness and concerns about safety of the students and staff of the identified schools, the lieutenants of the former governor are taking time to take a swipe at the government for its noble action, describing it a witch-hunt and an attempt to impugn the legacy of their principal.

Why should a governor sacrifice the safety and lives of the people he was elected to serve for pecuniary gains? This was the mistake made by former Governor Aregbesola. This is the mistake Oyetola has vowed not to rehash, hence his insistence on procedural appropriateness in relation to the State's mega school buildings.

Dr Olusegun Adeniran teaches in a private university in Osun State.

The only governors that will pass the integrity test will be northern governors....


No southern state governor will make an average pass....


Note; the northern governor will only pass because they ensure 5hat 5he money sent to them are much so they can embezzle enough and have to do the real job adequately...