₦airaland Forum

Oyo state has been the center of news in the last couple of weeks, mostly because of happenings in the educational sector of the state. Again, just yesterday, the state governor came under attack from the renowned legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Femi Falana, while speaking at the ceremony graduation of the 2017 Class of Philosophy, the Dominican Institute, Ibadan on Thursday, 8th June, 2017.

On the surface, going by emotions, the neutral observer may think Chief Femi Falana made many points, especially with the spate of misdirected media frenzy following the events in the Ladoka Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, which is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun states.

But, on a much deeper inspection, you will observe that, most of the issues touched on by Mr. Falana are just unnecessary sensationalism.

In his tirade, Mr. Falana pointed at the issue of Lautech; while castigating the governor on his handling of the issue, he began with the following: “How can a governor who believes in the legacy of the late Obafemi Awolowo treat students by saying “I am a constituted authority, you have to come and beg me before I reopen the School.”

First off, in the incident involving the Governor and the students of the Lautech at the State Secretariat, Ibadan a few weeks ago, the governor never made the above statement. The Governor, through his media aides at different times, has explained what transpired at the encounter. Contrarily, while addressing the rowdy students who had come to the government house in protest, the governor was reported to have made the statement as follows: “I understand that you are aggrieved and, even then, you must be respectful to constituted authority”

How the learned SAN could misunderstand and misrepresent such a direct, point blank statement, is cause for serious concern.

Mr. Falana also mentioned the LAUTECH issue, and, while attempting to blame the governor, betrayed a serious lack of knowledge of the nuances and details of the ongoing LAUTECH situation. The governor has repeatedly state, over the last couple of months, some of the solutions they were working on for the Lautech situation.

You will agree with me, that, the Lautech situation escalated when the state revenue hit a huge brick wall, following the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market, and the onset of the recession from which Nigeria is currently trying to crawl its way out. The state government immediately sprung to action, and called for a review of the operations of the institution, to ensure that all immediate and future problems are resolved, and a workable plan is developed to ensure that it is well funded and salaries are paid, both in the short and the long term.

The state government thus constituted a visiting auditing panel, headed by another legal luminary Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), to interrogate the immediate causes of the problem, not limited to funding alone, and ensure that a plan is developed to sustain the institution. The panel, upon the fulfillment of its mandate, is to submit its findings to the leadership of the school and the state government, on the proposed funding and maintenance plan for the institution. An Education Trust Fund is also being set up, which when concluded, will ensure that Oyo state owned institutions are properly funded and run.

While also addressing the graduands, the legal luminary also mentioned that Oyo state has been terrible in WAEC performance, coming 26th in the last year rankings in terms of WAEC performance by States in Nigeria. What the learned SAN failed to mention, is that, in the last 6 years since Ajimobi became Governor, Oyo state has gradually and consistently risen, albeit slowly, in these rankings; from 35th position to 26th.

Also, as a direct result of the policy abolishing mass promotions in Oyo state, as was the case in the years before Ajimobi, this year, Oyo state rose in the rankings in the 2017 NECO exams, to an enviable 2nd position Nationwide; these would assure the unbiased reader, that the legal luminary’s statement that the State Government has had nothing to show for Education in the last 6 years is false and unfounded.

One would also expect that, as a respected member of the society, the legal luminary will understand that free education is only mandated at primary level, and, given the cost of delivering quality education at tertiary level, especially given the current economic situation, free tertiary education is yet unattainable and may take a while before it can be delivered. Also, the UN standard as mentioned by the esteemed legal luminary is not mandated, as even the proponents understand that each government has to adapt to its immediate realities in its budgetary allocations, and a 26% allocation might not be realistic for a government’s current or immediate situation.

In conclusion, while the temptation is very high for one to lap up the statements of a respected member of the society, responsibility behooves on everyone to take a step back from the issues raised, and analyze them based on their individual merits, before leaping to conclusion.

Mr. Falana goofed on this, and a man of his stature should issue a retraction, and an apology.

Very well said, the problem with most lawyers is that they think they know more than they actually know. That learned tag they have has given them an overblown impression of themselves. People like Falana should know they need to make due diligence in their investigations before making proclamations whether damning or praise-worthy. I am glad that someone who has done due research has responded to his gaffe. Hopefully, Mr. Falana would do the noble thing which is to tender unreserved apology.

RealOmoIbadan:
Oyo state has been the center of news in the last couple of weeks, mostly because of happenings in the educational sector of the state. Again, just yesterday, the state governor came under attack from the renowned legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Femi Falana, while speaking at the ceremony graduation of the 2017 Class of Philosophy, the Dominican Institute, Ibadan on Thursday, 8th June, 2017.

On the surface, going by emotions, the neutral observer may think Chief Femi Falana made many points, especially with the spate of misdirected media frenzy following the events in the Ladoka Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, which is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun states.

But, on a much deeper inspection, you will observe that, most of the issues touched on by Mr. Falana are just unnecessary sensationalism.

In his tirade, Mr. Falana pointed at the issue of Lautech; while castigating the governor on his handling of the issue, he began with the following: “How can a governor who believes in the legacy of the late Obafemi Awolowo treat students by saying “I am a constituted authority, you have to come and beg me before I reopen the School.”

First off, in the incident involving the Governor and the students of the Lautech at the State Secretariat, Ibadan a few weeks ago, the governor never made the above statement. The Governor, through his media aides at different times, has explained what transpired at the encounter. Contrarily, while addressing the rowdy students who had come to the government house in protest, the governor was reported to have made the statement as follows: “I understand that you are aggrieved and, even then, you must be respectful to constituted authority”

How the learned SAN could misunderstand and misrepresent such a direct, point blank statement, is cause for serious concern.

Mr. Falana also mentioned the LAUTECH issue, and, while attempting to blame the governor, betrayed a serious lack of knowledge of the nuances and details of the ongoing LAUTECH situation. The governor has repeatedly state, over the last couple of months, some of the solutions they were working on for the Lautech situation.

You will agree with me, that, the Lautech situation escalated when the state revenue hit a huge brick wall, following the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market, and the onset of the recession from which Nigeria is currently trying to crawl its way out. The state government immediately sprung to action, and called for a review of the operations of the institution, to ensure that all immediate and future problems are resolved, and a workable plan is developed to ensure that it is well funded and salaries are paid, both in the short and the long term.

The state government thus constituted a visiting auditing panel, headed by another legal luminary Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), to interrogate the immediate causes of the problem, not limited to funding alone, and ensure that a plan is developed to sustain the institution. The panel, upon the fulfillment of its mandate, is to submit its findings to the leadership of the school and the state government, on the proposed funding and maintenance plan for the institution. An Education Trust Fund is also being set up, which when concluded, will ensure that Oyo state owned institutions are properly funded and run.

While also addressing the graduands, the legal luminary also mentioned that Oyo state has been terrible in WAEC performance, coming 26th in the last year rankings in terms of WAEC performance by States in Nigeria. What the learned SAN failed to mention, is that, in the last 6 years since Ajimobi became Governor, Oyo state has gradually and consistently risen, albeit slowly, in these rankings; from 35th position to 26th.

Also, as a direct result of the policy abolishing mass promotions in Oyo state, as was the case in the years before Ajimobi, this year, Oyo state rose in the rankings in the 2017 NECO exams, to an enviable 2nd position Nationwide; these would assure the unbiased reader, that the legal luminary’s statement that the State Government has had nothing to show for Education in the last 6 years is false and unfounded.

One would also expect that, as a respected member of the society, the legal luminary will understand that free education is only mandated at primary level, and, given the cost of delivering quality education at tertiary level, especially given the current economic situation, free tertiary education is yet unattainable and may take a while before it can be delivered. Also, the UN standard as mentioned by the esteemed legal luminary is not mandated, as even the proponents understand that each government has to adapt to its immediate realities in its budgetary allocations, and a 26% allocation might not be realistic for a government’s current or immediate situation.

In conclusion, while the temptation is very high for one to lap up the statements of a respected member of the society, responsibility behooves on everyone to take a step back from the issues raised, and analyze them based on their individual merits, before leaping to conclusion.

Mr. Falana goofed on this, and a man of his stature should issue a retraction, and an apology.

it is okay .
chillers (large fridges n refrigerators) available for sale at reasonable prices...@emjaylala on fb.

as a student of lautech it bothers me that this strike has to take this long but as angry as i was before i think this strike has revealed a lot. just yesterday i heard that the audit revealed that the school had 97 accounts. whose idea was that? whoever it is, is the real cause of this problem. imagine if the country was not in recession and the state allocation for oyo had not dropped we would have never developed this. this leaves room for misappropriation of funds. then again the governor did not handle this well at the protest and that is why he is the face of this issue even though clearly he is the least to blame in the real sense. because yesterday it was revealed that osun has not been holding up to their own end with funding as they ought to concerning lautech. but who can blame osun state? when osun state is the most expensive state university. the university virtually runs without any major funding from the state hence the students have to pay large fees for a public school. which brings me back to this post. this is a perfect response. you can not mean well by quoting false statements and allegation. can this mean that a SAN can be so lazy as not to read the news or be informed about issues such as this. how can you not have your facts and figures out? it's amazing that this can only happen in Nigeria. everybody is lazy, this SAN goofed indeed. femi falani please if you want to fight for us. at least help us appeal if you cant even give us accurate information.

RealOmoIbadan:
Oyo state has been the center of news in the last couple of weeks, mostly because of happenings in the educational sector of the state. Again, just yesterday, the state governor came under attack from the renowned legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Femi Falana, while speaking at the ceremony graduation of the 2017 Class of Philosophy, the Dominican Institute, Ibadan on Thursday, 8th June, 2017.

On the surface, going by emotions, the neutral observer may think Chief Femi Falana made many points, especially with the spate of misdirected media frenzy following the events in the Ladoka Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, which is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun states.

But, on a much deeper inspection, you will observe that, most of the issues touched on by Mr. Falana are just unnecessary sensationalism.

In his tirade, Mr. Falana pointed at the issue of Lautech; while castigating the governor on his handling of the issue, he began with the following: “How can a governor who believes in the legacy of the late Obafemi Awolowo treat students by saying “I am a constituted authority, you have to come and beg me before I reopen the School.”

First off, in the incident involving the Governor and the students of the Lautech at the State Secretariat, Ibadan a few weeks ago, the governor never made the above statement. The Governor, through his media aides at different times, has explained what transpired at the encounter. Contrarily, while addressing the rowdy students who had come to the government house in protest, the governor was reported to have made the statement as follows: “I understand that you are aggrieved and, even then, you must be respectful to constituted authority”

How the learned SAN could misunderstand and misrepresent such a direct, point blank statement, is cause for serious concern.

Mr. Falana also mentioned the LAUTECH issue, and, while attempting to blame the governor, betrayed a serious lack of knowledge of the nuances and details of the ongoing LAUTECH situation. The governor has repeatedly state, over the last couple of months, some of the solutions they were working on for the Lautech situation.

You will agree with me, that, the Lautech situation escalated when the state revenue hit a huge brick wall, following the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market, and the onset of the recession from which Nigeria is currently trying to crawl its way out. The state government immediately sprung to action, and called for a review of the operations of the institution, to ensure that all immediate and future problems are resolved, and a workable plan is developed to ensure that it is well funded and salaries are paid, both in the short and the long term.

The state government thus constituted a visiting auditing panel, headed by another legal luminary Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), to interrogate the immediate causes of the problem, not limited to funding alone, and ensure that a plan is developed to sustain the institution. The panel, upon the fulfillment of its mandate, is to submit its findings to the leadership of the school and the state government, on the proposed funding and maintenance plan for the institution. An Education Trust Fund is also being set up, which when concluded, will ensure that Oyo state owned institutions are properly funded and run.

While also addressing the graduands, the legal luminary also mentioned that Oyo state has been terrible in WAEC performance, coming 26th in the last year rankings in terms of WAEC performance by States in Nigeria. What the learned SAN failed to mention, is that, in the last 6 years since Ajimobi became Governor, Oyo state has gradually and consistently risen, albeit slowly, in these rankings; from 35th position to 26th.

Also, as a direct result of the policy abolishing mass promotions in Oyo state, as was the case in the years before Ajimobi, this year, Oyo state rose in the rankings in the 2017 NECO exams, to an enviable 2nd position Nationwide; these would assure the unbiased reader, that the legal luminary’s statement that the State Government has had nothing to show for Education in the last 6 years is false and unfounded.

One would also expect that, as a respected member of the society, the legal luminary will understand that free education is only mandated at primary level, and, given the cost of delivering quality education at tertiary level, especially given the current economic situation, free tertiary education is yet unattainable and may take a while before it can be delivered. Also, the UN standard as mentioned by the esteemed legal luminary is not mandated, as even the proponents understand that each government has to adapt to its immediate realities in its budgetary allocations, and a 26% allocation might not be realistic for a government’s current or immediate situation.

In conclusion, while the temptation is very high for one to lap up the statements of a respected member of the society, responsibility behooves on everyone to take a step back from the issues raised, and analyze them based on their individual merits, before leaping to conclusion.

Mr. Falana goofed on this, and a man of his stature should issue a retraction, and an apology.

And this writer might be a student. Imagine you defending the government that has wrecked education with your have baked knowledge.

What does this comment have to do with anything? We are discussing the facts of the matter, you are talking about defending the govt. The facts are in the article above, maybe you should read it again.

ERockson:
And this writer might be a student. Imagine you defending the government that has wrecked education with your have baked knowledge.