In addition to the compulsory free education policy and improvement of the curriculum (introducing STEM and ICT), @ekitistategov has since embarked on continuous state-wide infrastructure improvement in 781 total school projects.
These school projects include the construction of new buildings, renovation of existing classrooms, renovation of toilets, borehole construction, and perimeter fences.
Despite the paucity of resources, the present administration led by Dr. Kayode Fayemi @kfayemi paid the outstanding counterpart funds due to UBEC in order to access UBEC funding which was not accessed between 2014-2018.
This funding is making it possible to carry out the following ongoing projects in FY2020:
In primary schools, a total of 591 projects are ongoing: 196 new building construction, 146 new fences, 167 new toilets, and 82 boreholes.
In secondary schools, a total of 190 projects are ongoing: 80 new building construction, 32 new fences, 55 new toilets, and 23 boreholes.
The projects are distributed in order of immediate emergency and priority across the local governments in Ekiti State.
Despite this aggressive investment in school infrastructure, there are still pending needs according to the recent education infrastructure data.
In primary schools, 1674 buildings require renovation, 290 buildings require completion, 651 schools require perimeter fences, 804 require new toilets, and 698 require borehole facilities.
In secondary schools, 839 buildings require renovation, 121 buildings require completion, 200 schools require perimeter fences, 828 require new toilets, and 205 require borehole facilities.
To address this, the state government is investing in critical economic infrastructure, education, and improving microeconomic conditions that limit productivity in the crucial economic sectors. This is hard to achieve without sufficient revenue.
It is a known fact that Ekiti State ranks low in revenue among its peers in Nigeria, a condition which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, Ekiti State barely has N300 million left when the wage bill (N2.8 billion) is deducted from its revenue. Internal revenue has been impacted too because of the lockdown experienced by the state due to COVID-19.
Notwithstanding, the state government under the leadership of Dr. Kayode Fayemi has initiated reforms and public policy initiatives that have improved its Ease of Doing Business standing as well as enabled investments to trickle in.
To ensure Ekitikete can catch up and compete among their global peers, it is imperative that the state’s legacy heritage – education – is improved significantly.
Since the inception of this administration, the state government has introduced educational reforms and initiated improvements on challenges that initially limited access, affordability, and quality of education provision.
These include the reintroduction of compulsory free education policy, the supply and provision of teaching materials and instructional guides, improvement of the curriculum (introducing STEM and ICT), teacher’s training, and provision of infrastructure.
Governor Kayode Fayemi’s @kfayemi commitment is to ensure that all schools are properly standardized with the right facilities and capacity to improve pedagogy and educational outcomes and that Ekitikete is enabled to catch up with global trends.
The Governor’s commitment remains undeterred and will be achieved as revenue and funding improve.
#JKFatWork