Erecting shopping complex inside schools in need of classrooms

With just four buildings serving two primary schools, IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI reports on the decision by the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State to commence the construction of a shopping complex in the same school premises in Atan-Ota.

Though the plan of the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State to construct the proposed shopping complex inside the premises of Nawair-Ud-Deen Primary School I and II, Atan-Ota, has hit a brick wall after protests by some stakeholders and the intervention of the government, the move, no doubt, leaves a sour taste in the mouth of some residents and stakeholders.

Established in 1955 and 2015, the two NUD Primary Schools, which are both located along the Ota-Idiroko highway, share four blocks of classrooms. The school field which occupies a vast section of the land not only serves as recreation spot for pupils of the two schools, but also for youths in the community who participate in various structured and unstructured football competitions.

At the edge of the school field and a few metres away from the highway lies a five-coach perimeter fence which helps to demarcate the end of the schools’ property. There used to be three large trees with extended branches that provided a shed for a section of the school field and three Ashoka (Polyalthia longifolia) trees inside the fence (inwards the school field). The other side (outer part) of the fence was sparsely decorated by makeshift shops and stalls where various commercial activities take place.

Checks by Sunday Tribune indicated that the three large trees with extended branches provided shed for pupils during school hours and other temporary users of the school field such as spectators of football competitions and voters who use the school as their designated polling units during the presidential election held on Saturday, February 25.

Apart from housing two schools and two polling units (02 and 19) in Atan (ward 6) of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government, the premises served as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s Registration Area Centre (RAC) where electoral materials were distributed and officers dispatched to various polling units within the ward during the general election.

But when voters returned for the gubernatorial election which was held about three weeks later on Saturday, March 18, the large trees were no longer standing. “The branches of trees were on the ground – they had been cut down,” said a lady who gave her mname simply as Adebola, a resident who voted in one of the polling units located in the school premises.

Adebola, who resides near Local Government Secondary Commercial School, a few metres from NUD, added: “The voters sat on the branches unlike the first election where the branches provided shelter for us against the sun.

“When I asked, I was told the changes were meant to pave the way for the development of the school,” she added.

In a matter of days, the Ashoka trees were also gone as contractors moved to the site to dig up parts of the land meant to be used for the foundation of the structures to be built. But to the dismay of the many, residents woke up one day to see a signpost indicating that the clearing of the school premises was to pave way for the construction of a shopping complex.

The signpost indicated that the proposed complex is a project of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government in conjunction with Olan Land Solutions Limited. TrueCaller, a caller-identification smartphone application, traced the two phone numbers on the signpost to one Pastor Emmanuel Ayinde.

Efforts to get Ayinde to provide details of the project proved abortive. When contacted over the phone, he said, “I am not around, I will call you when I’m around,” while mumbling Tribune several times. He is yet to do so at the time of filing this report. Repeated phone calls placed to his mobile phones were neither answered nor returned.

Providing more details on the development, one of the owners of the makeshift stalls by the fence of the school, Titus Mark, said: “They cut down the trees, pulled down the borehole and water tank.”

During Sunday Tribune’s visit to Atan on Monday, there were only five decrepit buildings including blocks of classrooms that were defaced with election posters and a derelict four-unit toilet facility that serve students and staff of the two schools.

This confirms the theory of a tweep who recently raised the alarm over the condition of the school on Twitter. The tweep wondered why sections of a school without enough facilities would be converted to a shopping complex.

It was, however, observed that many of the people approached by Sunday Tribune within the vicinity of the school were either skeptical or afraid about speaking on the project and the school. Those who offered some details declined to speak on the record.

Sunday Tribune approached an elderly woman whose stall sits beside the fence of the school under the guise of getting a form. She vehemently warned against that because, according to her, “there are issues over the shops.”

This was also corroborated by a barber behind the toilet who said there was an announcement on a radio station last week directing contractors to stop work on the site. “That’s why they covered some sections of the already dug land,” he told Sunday Tribune.

The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Abayomi Arigbabu, reportedly described the construction of the shopping complex as an illegal encroachment.

“I am sure that if anything is done, it will be demolished because even for buildings, they need to get approval first from the physical planning and I am sure nobody would have given them that approval. So, it is an illegal encroachment,” Arigbabu was quoted to have said.

Meanwhile, a prospective subscriber of the project, identified as Funke, told Sunday Tribune she paid N120,000 annual rent to an agent for a unit of the shops. She, however, could not confirm how much the outright sale of the shops costs.

“I asked someone I know about the shops last month. He’s a politician and close to the local government officials handling the project. He told us they will begin work this month but I learnt they were stopped from working there again. I have asked him for a refund and he promised to refund me by Friday.

“There are sections of the shops that were meant to be sold but I had no interest in that. I only paid to rent a unit from the one-storey section of the complex,” Funke said.

When Sunday Tribune visited the secretariat of the local government in Otta later that day, most of the officials had closed for the day. An official whom Sunday Tribune met at the office declined to provide contact details of the chairman, Sheriff Musa.

When Sunday Tribune attempted to reach out to Musa for clarification on the project, he failed to answer repeated phone calls placed to his mobile phone. A text message sent to him was also not replied as of the time of filing this report.

Checks, however, showed that a coalition of civil society groups recently approached Musa on the rationale for the complex.

In his defence, Musa reportedly said the project was conceptualised to curb “activities of illegal trading, arbitrary use as a motor park and security challenges posed by miscreants that lurk around the vicinity of the school.”

He was also quoted to have said that stakeholders in the community were consulted before the project was approved.

While confirming that the units of the complex, when completed, will both be sold and rented out, an elder in the community and the Oluwo of Ikoko-Ebiye, Chief Olayinka Olatunji, whose contact details appeared on the project poster, denied claims that subscribers had started making payments.

“Nobody has paid to anyone. I haven’t heard it anywhere,” he said, while disclosing that it is the local government authorities that will decide the cost of rent or sale.

When asked why a shopping complex is proposed to coexist in an academic environment without enough facilities, Olatunji said: “The land belongs to the government. The project also belongs to the government. We can point to two examples of this kind of arrangement –one in Ifo and another in Joju, Sango– where the school is behind the shops. I can’t say that nothing is impossible since everything belongs to the government.

“The indigenes should have taken steps (on the lack of facilities). We should have demanded more classrooms and facilities alongside the Parents-Teacher Association (PTA).”

On the stoppage of work on the site, he said: “I heard there was a protest against the project. Since it is something that involves the government, the government is deliberating and taking necessary actions. Whatever the government decides is what will be done eventually very soon.”

While expressing belief that the project will improve trading activities in the area, he further called on residents to engage the leaders and government officials on the development of the community projects.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in the state, Tunji Odunlami, refused to speak on the issue over the phone. He asked the Sunday Tribune to send an official letter or book appointment with him..

“If you want to talk to me at this level, you can’t talk to me on the phone. You have to come to my office or you write a formal letter that you want to get information from me. That’s the procedure.

“I’m a commissioner in this state. You either come to my office for an appointment or you write a formal letter to book an appointment. Open door policy is not done through the phone,” he said and ended the call.

 

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