The Oyo State House of Assembly, on Monday, approved the request of Governor Seyi Makinde to access the 2020 Federal Government UBEC/SUBEB intervention fund of N1,510,664,674.26.
In a letter read at plenary, Makinde said the fund was required to enable his administration to embark on aggressive construction of classrooms and provision of school furniture.
Makinde further explained that the fund will help in the provision of standard educational facilities and enhance teaching and learning activities in both primary and secondary schools in the state.
Speaker of the Assembly, Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin, said the Assembly approved the request worried at the decrepit state of infrastructure in most primary and secondary schools in the state.
Ogundoyin expressed the belief that the fund when accessed will go a long way in addressing the infrastructural decay in the state’s schools.
He however assured that the House Committee on Education will embark on diligent oversight to ensure that the intervention fund is effectively and judiciously utilised.
Earlier, Majority Leader of the Assembly, Honourable Sanjo Adedoyin noted that it was not uncommon to see students sitting on the bare floor without chairs and tables in various schools across the state.
In his own remarks, the Chairman House Committee on Education, Honourable Oluwafowokanmi Olufemi, lauded the decision of the state government to access the grant.
Others including Honourable Adebayo Babajide (Ibadan North 2) and Honourable Isiaka Kazeem (Oyo East/ Oyo West), in their contributions, appealed to the state government to ensure every zone of the state benefits from the grant.
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In another letter read at plenary, Makinde also requested the Assembly to screen one Mr Lawal Ayansiju as Public Works, Infrastructure and Transport commissioner nominee.
It will be recalled that a void had subsisted in the ministry after Makinde sacked former Commissioner in the Ministry, Professor Raphael Afonja last August.
The Speaker subsequently directed the Commissioner nominee to appear before the Assembly on December 14, 2020, for screening.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has urged Makinde to empower the Agency for Adult and Non-Formal Education (AANFE) to enhance adult and non-formal education in the state.
The Assembly particularly called on the state government to direct all Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas to comply with the release of five per cent of their allocation and two per cent from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to the agency to function effectively.
A motion presented by the lawmaker representing Ibadan South-West constituency II, Honourable Oluwafemi Fowokanmi, bemoaned that the agency continued to fail to perform its statutory functions of liberating the people from the vicious circle of poverty and reducing the rate of illiteracy.
Oyo Assembly gives Makinde go-ahead to access N1.5bn UBEC fund
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