NEWS
State of Ogun Schools: Your panic response political gimmick, Adebutu tells Abiodun
…Says more students still sit on the floor to write exams
By Paul Eso
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Ogun State, Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu, has described the Dapo Abiodun’s led government’s response to supply new sets of benches and chairs to St. Kizito High School, Iwopin in Ogunwaterside Local Government Area as fake and mere political gimmick.
A statement by his campaign’s media director, Afolabi Orekoya, said that Abiodun’s panic response came as a result of the outcome of the Osun gubernatorial election in which the incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola, was defeated by the candidate of the PDP, Sen. Ademola Adeleke.
According to the statement, “Governor Dapo Abiodun has seen the handwriting on the wall that his second term bid is not certain in Ogun going by the outcome of the Osun gubernatorial election”.
Recall that Nigerians were on Monday, outraged by the viral videos and photos where students of St. Kizito Senior Secondary School in Iwopin, began their third term promotion examination on bare floor of their classrooms.
Apparently embarrassed by the reports, the state government on Tuesday, swiftly provided the students with new sets of furniture.
Orekoya said if not that the Abiodun-led government lacked human feeling and compassion, it wouldn’t have waited till the picture of students writing exams on the floor went viral before supplying them with benches under 24 hours.
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He noted that there were many other schools across the state facing same challenge and other numerous infrastructural problems, giving as an example, the Imotu Community Academy at Ifonyintedo in Ipokia Local Government, whose students also sit on bare floor for learning and writing of exams as at Tuesday, 19th July, 2022.
The statement read: “We are sure that tomorrow, under same pretense and fake response, they will deliver benches at Ifonyintedo. For how long will this government continue to be a push and work government?
“What is pathetic about this school in Ifonyintedo is that the community and the Old students’ Association approached the state government on this situation many times before now and in particular, the old students’ representatives met with the Ministry of Education about seven months ago on this issue, yet nothing was done.
“It is sad to see that the benches delivered at Iwopin imprinted with ‘2020/2021 intervention’, yet they were not distributed to schools for use until July 2022. Apparently, the government is planning to use them for political campaign, what should ordinarily be the responsibilities of the government as part of their service to the people which the governor sworn to.
“There are many schools without teachers not to talk of infrastructure. For example, Community High School, Moriwi has only one principal and just one teacher for a school of 500 students, same with Community High School, Iwoye/Ketu which has one principal and two teachers with about 800 students both in Imeko Afon LGA. The only thing we can see are the yellow painted roofs on buildings that were poorly constructed with no furniture.”
The statement added that quality education has always been of great concern to the PDP’s candidate, who has assured the people at every opportunity that he would give much attention to uplift the educational standard and situation of schools in the state if given the opportunity come 2023.
“Adebutu will encourage Private Public Partnership in providing major infrastructure and capital projects, while the state resources will be much adequate to cater for and enhance provision of quality education and healthcare delivery”, Orekoya said.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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