Men of the  Nigeria Police Force, Oyo State Command have arrested NANS JCC Oyo State Chairman, Comrade Asubiojo Olajuwon,

He is presently detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Mega Icon Magazine learnt.

According to reports, Comrade Asubiojo was arrested  on Saturday 12th October 2019, around 4pm during an executive meeting of Oyo NANS JCC, which was held inside the premises of Federal Cooperative College, Eleyele.

The reports added that the police arrested 3 of the exco’s at first before the General secretary and the welfare director joined them at the station,after questioning and putting down of their statements, the executives were released,  while  the Chairman and the Treasurer were  detained as investigation is on going.

But, according to the information scooped from OYOINSIGHT.COM, one of his aides alleged that “Some people who claim to be close to Governor Seyi Makinde led police to the school where he was holding meeting. And he followed them. He felt that he had no skeleton in his cupboard and follow them only for them to tell him that he wouldn’t be released if certain conditions are met.

“That Saturday night, we tried our best but we couldn’t meet the condition. On Sunday, they wasted our time. We are here again now. He has spent two nights here. We don’t even know what his offences are”.

PUBLIC primary and secondary school education may suffer setback in Oyo State following the inability of the state government to inject funds into the school system

The state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, had, at different fora directed that all forms of payment in public primary and secondary schools ceased with immediate effect, a decision which has left the schools without running funds to maintain curricular and co- curricular activities, investigations by Mega Icon Magazine have shown.

Also, the state government has refused to employ teachers despite an acute shortage of teaching personnel in public primary and secondary schools across the state, while private teachers hired through the contributions of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) were relieved of their jobs.

Our checks further revealed that the public schools became the target of attacks by hoodlum following the forced withdrawal of security guards, especially the night guards after Governor Makinde announced the abolition of payment of the fees.

Reacting to this development, one of the Principals who spoke in confidence lamented, “we are finding it difficult to pay for the services of security guards and others employed to complement our efforts”.

Before now, pupils in public secondary schools paid N1000 per term each under the education policy of Schools’ Governing Boards (SGBs) of the immediate past administration led by Senator Abiola Ajimobi. Investigations unearthed that the N1000 fees were domiciled in the accounts of the schools for their smooth -running.

Meanwhile, the Oyo state government through its Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Kehinde Sangodoyin at the launching and dedication of projects embarked upon by Old Students of Ibadan City Academy, Ibadan vowed that the government would start paying running cost for the upkeep of public schools from Monday September 30th, 2019.

 

According to Prof. Sangodoyin, ” parts of the State education policy is to improve access and participation of our students in academic activities at all levels, be it primary or secondary and since the governor has removed levies hitherto paid by our students and has just approved the payment of running cost to our primary and secondary schools”.

However, our findings on  Wednesday (9th October, 2019) revealed that the state government has not fulfilled its promise .

 

Another Principal, who also pleaded anonymity lamented the cancelation of the Education Development Levy without providing an alternative, adding that running of schools had become ineffective.

He observed that there was high disregard for continuity in the formulation of educational policies, stressing that lack of funds has contributed to the schools’ inability to effectively implement the curriculum, which has greatly affected the academic activities.

While, highlighting the challenges during a chat with our reporter, he , however sought government’s intervention.

“We are faced with numerous challenges, which include inadequate teachers, inability to effectively implement the school curriculum on some subjects and lack of teachers and facilities.”

Shockingly, the same concerns were raised in other schools visited by our reporter.

Speaking further, he disclosed that
considerable numbers of pupils in most of the primary and secondary schools in Oyo state still study in poor conditions, making it harder for them to perform well.

“More pupils in class due to insufficient furniture has made the study environment difficult to manage”, Mega Icon Magazine source concluded.

The University of Ghana (UG) has finally  reacted to the BBC Africa Eye latest documentary on sex-for-grades in West African universities, saying there was no evidence of sex-for-grades in the video and transcript from the BBC’s documentary.

The University also said that it could not find a concrete evidence to prove its lecturer, Professor Gyambo Ransford, actually slept with the female student to give her better grades.

It further added that  the documentary did not provide any evidence to prove that the students were awarded marks by the lecturers.

The BBC ‘Sex for Grades’ documentary had earlier indicted two Ghanaian academicians –  a Political Science lecturer, Prof. Ransford Gyampo and a lecturer at the College of Education, Dr. Paul Kwame Bukator.

But, the Chairperson of the anti-sexual harassment committee of the University of Ghana (UG), Dr Margaret Amoakohene has refuted the allegations.

Reacting in an interview with Citi News, a Ghanaian-based media outfit, Dr  Amoakohene informed that she has watched the documentary and could not find a concrete evidence to backup claims of sexual harassment or exploitation.

“If you look at the transcript that they added, there is no evidence of sex for grade. I agree that the lecturers misbehaved and so you will discuss these as unacceptable behaviors that should be investigated but there was no indication of sex for grades.

“In one case, it was about the national service placement. Who needs grades at national service? She completed and she was looking for placement.

“In the other case according to the transcript, the lady approached him [Prof. Gyampo] and said she wanted him to be a mentor. She actually confirmed she wasn’t his student but asked that he mentors her.

“So where is the grade involved in this? You are able to discuss grades and sex when you find a lecturer who is dating his own students, and either unnecessarily giving them grades that they don’t deserve or marking them down because they have refused your advances. But in the two cases that are cited, I don’t see sex for grades”, she said.

Though, in the documentary, Professor Gyambo was filmed pestering a female student to kiss him as well as become his girlfriend. The journalist who posed as a student, had asked him to become her mentor. He accepted her request but asked her for more than she bargained.