Professor Dahud Kehinde Shangodoyin was the Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology until the cabinet was reshuffled recently and he was deployed to the Ministry of Establishment and Training. In this interview by MODUPE GEORGE, before the change in the portfolios, he spoke on his scholastic engagements abroad, his appointment and administrative role as a commissioner.
A PART from the fact that occupying the office as the Oyo State Commissioner for Education is a homecoming for you, can we also say that it is a dream come true?
It is a dream come true for me to serve my people, having been out of the country for about 12 years. I have been teaching statistics for almost 33 years now and I have been to Switzerland, South Africa, Mauritius and Botwana, heading one position or the other in those places. It is a dream comes through because everyone wants to serve his/her own people at one stage or the other. So, it is an opportunity for me to say, God I thank you for the opportunity to serve my people. I have been serving citizens of other nations; now I’m here to serve my people. I think I feel fulfilled.
You have just switched from academics to administration. How are you coping?
You see, if you are in academics, you do two things: you combine research and services, and administration is part of services. I’m used to being dean, member of council, and head of departments. All of these demand administrative competences. Now, coming down to Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, I’m combining these two major things. I was in Nigeria for 18 years before I left. I was head, Department of Statistics, University of Ibadan, a sub-dean of the UI Postgraduate School, member of disciplinary committee, just to mention a few. The job is academic in nature because you have to see the model that is working. You have to look at strategies and best practices that can work as well as the model that can function. It is not a new terrain for me. The demands of this office are not totally new, but the environment may be new.
Nigeria has always been accused of lacking the wherewithal when it comes to gathering of accurate data. As a professional statistician, what exactly is the problem?
When we were in Addis Abba in 2016 for the African Summit on Strategic Plans for Statistics, we discovered that our country was lagging behind and this may be as result of the political will. It is not that we don’t have the experts in the country, but if things are not done in the proper way, nothing will move. The problem is traceable to the political will. We politicise a number of issues in this country. The truth is we cannot politicise data, because that is what will drive our economy and for almost all the sectors we will need data. Truth be told, we don’t have good data miners in this country; the planners are not good data miners. We should rather consult experts who can provide for policy makers proper and adequate data. Our country may not move forward if we don’t have adequate and reliable baseline data. The baseline data is vital to drive the policies. Now, we have free education policy in Oyo State and I must give my boss an accurate data to be able to drive the policy; and if I don’t have it, then, it will be difficult to drive the policy. That was why I said that I have some team who are working with me. We are collecting reliable data. And again, to get accurate data, we must go step by step. I believe that is the problem we are having in Nigeria.
Different personalities have occupied the seat you are sitting on today. Considering your educational prowess, what are you bringing to the table?
I found out outside the country that other nations of the world are thriving today because they have built systems that are sustainable. So, I came to develop an educational system in Oyo State that would be sustainable for life. To do that, you have to look at the human part and the other resources that you will need to drive and ensure that the system stands and can be sustained. If we can get that right, we will be the education hub for Africa. When you look at the system in terms of teaching, learning, research and professional services, and ensure that everything is running well, such as the teachers knowing what to do at the right time, everything will run smoothly. These are what make the developed countries to be developed.
If you finance education well and you have funds coming from outside your country and state, then, sustainability is guaranteed. I want to thank Governor Seyi Makinde who has helped us to sustain the education system by giving us 22.37 per cent of the budget. You can imagine if by next year it’s increased, there will be a greater result. If we can also look for funds on our own to develop some aspects of education, then, we will sustain it for life. I have met with the proprietors of private schools and we have agreed that we should be meeting on quarterly basis. The Science Association of Nigeria was with me and the Math Association of Nigeria had discussed with me, while Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria has involved me in their registration examinations. I have been involved in processes that will help the system to stand and be sustained in the state.
Recently you announced that 34 per cent of out-of-school children had been brought back to school. What happens to the remaining 66 per cent who are still out there?
We are still on it, and right now they are more than that; we have 42 per cent now. We now have a better service delivery for the ‘Education for All’ project which is sponsored by World Bank. We have gone out to sensitise all the communities in the state. We have done advocacy and we are now on literacy. We have 22 centres in Oyo State and we want to bring back our children to the centres, especially those who have grown beyond the school age, such as 22 years and above, who feel they cannot go back to school. You can’t take someone who is above 22 years to school, but they can be taught at the centres. Efforts are on to ensure that we reduce the rate drastically.
The current administration is making a lot of investment in the public schools these days. What monitoring mechanism have you put in place to forestall absenteeism and other misconducts among public school teachers?
That is actually our focus this term. I call it strategic monitoring. To whom much is given, much is expected. Our monitoring and evaluation team have started going round. Apart from that, we have some other stakeholders who have been going round to monitor the schools. We are employing what we call a proactive monitoring approach to catch any teacher who is not found at his/her duty post and report accordingly.
This is a new administration, what has become of the School Governing Board, an initiative of the past administration? Has it been scrapped?
We met with the SGB and the Parents-Teachers Association last year. We have told them that they are on course and that our government is not going to cancel any of them, but they only need to key into our policies and do exactly what the laws that established them says. The SGB is still relevant in Oyo State; the PTA is still vibrant.
Some schools of thought believe that education should not be free and your government is saying that education is now totally free. How can this be sustained?
When you look at the principle of inclusiveness in education, you don’t leave anyone out. There are people out there who due to the economic situation in the country cannot afford to send their children to school. Even back in the days of Baba Awolowo, some people could not afford a penny to finance their children’s education, let alone naira now. A good government must be ready to make education free at the pre-primary, primary and secondary level. As a matter of fact, our constitution says that ‘no child should be left out of school from the basic primary to JSS three.’ What this means invariably is that education should be free. So, that is the policy of the present administration and what is free about it is that you don’t pay levies at the school, but that does not take away the basic responsibilities of your parents to give you money to eat, for transport to move from one place to the other, take you to the clinic when you are ill, buy shoes for you and so forth. The government has made provision for textbooks, exercise books and compendium for past questions. We are fabricating chairs and tables for them, renovating buildings and putting up new structures. When the essentials are taken care of, the little that is left for parents to do must be done.
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