Gbenro Adesina
The Chairman of Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Nureni Adeniran, has revealed that the state government may terminate all SUBEB/UBEC contracts awarded during the administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
Adeniran, who stated that contracts awarded for the past three years and are yet to be completed would be terminated, adding that contractors handling such contracts, may equally be prosecuted in the court of law for breach of agreements.
Adeniran, who stated this on Thursday August 20, 2020, while fielding questions on a live programme, at an Ibadan-based radio station, said that such contractors would be taken to court for either abandoning such projects or failure to execute the projects to a level that commensurate with the funds received.
He further revealed that some contractors have failed to justify the contracts awarded to them by the past administration in the state, while some of them have abandoned such projects.
He said his tenure as the OYOSUBEB Chairman has afforded him the opportunity to uncover how contractors have ripped off the state government with shoddy jobs after collecting the huge sums for contracts.
According to him, the Board would, as a matter of duty, recruit security guards to secure public primary schools soon, adding that this would help to prevent intrusion, invasion and vandalisation of public primary school property in the state.
While pointing out that the UBEC/SUBEB 2019 Intervention Project would allow the rebuilding of some public primary schools fences, Adeniran added that the board has a good synergy with all the relevant security agencies that would assist in securing the property of the public schools.
The SUBEB boss also hinted that four model schools awarded this year have been completed, while the fifth is near completion.
He reiterated that the education family in Oyo State’s commitment to revamping the education sector, including fixing the incessant problem of inadequate infrastructure.
“The Education family, which includes the Commissioner for Education, the Teaching Service Commission, the Oyo SUBEB Chairman and other relevant stakeholders in the state education sector are developing a holistic and comprehensive approach to resolve the problem of inadequate infrastructures in public schools in the state”, he said.
Speaking on gratuity, he said, “What the government of Governor Seyi Makinde has paid in just over one year is more than what the past administration paid in eight years of the past administration”.
He also spoke on the forthcoming common entrance examination, “Similarly, the Board is ready to assist the Ministry of Education in monitoring the common entrance examinations for primary six pupils, which is to be conducted by the ministry, while the common entrance examination had to be postponed because of the on-going WAEC examinations in schools that are already centres for the examinations”.
He noted that the management of the board have been divided into five teams to cover the five zones for effective monitoring and management of the common entrance examinations in the state adding, “The Board will still recruit more teachers so as to fill the deficit in the number of available teachers in the state,” he noted.
