SENATOR RASHEED ADEWOLU LADOJA: THE MOST MARKETABLE POLITICIAN TO DELIVER OYO STATE. The desire of most people in Oyo State that Senator Rashidi Ladoja returns to the helm of affairs as governor of Oyo State is gathering momentum daily. The question is why do the people want Senator Ladoja back? What has he done that has made his return to government so desirable to the people? To a few, this is quite curious, considering that there have been two governors since he left office in 2007, yet the people of Oyo State still yearn for his return. The answer is not far-fetched. Senator Rashidi Ladoja, between 2003 and 2007, when he was gov ernor of Oyo State, left an indelible mark in key sectors of the state such as agriculture, infrastructural developments, education, health, job creation and workers’ welfare. One would run out of space should one begin to enumerate the achievements of Senator Ladoja in the aforementioned sectors of the state. However, one cannot resist the urge to talk about the laudable successes that the educational sector recorded under Senator Ladoja’s administration, particularly in the face of the perennial failures of students of Oyo state in national examinations since the commencement of the administration of Governor Isiaka Ajimobi. The Senator Ajimobi-led government has used the Joseph Goebbels approach of dissemination of falsehood : “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. This government has told more lies about its achievements in education than Joseph Goebbels did in defense of the Nazi. However, as Niccolo Machiavelli puts it, “the end Justifies the means”. If the recently-released examination results of Oyo State students is reflective of the means the Ajimobi government has deployed into education, then we know why we have come to this sorry state. During a recent interview session with a private radio station in Ibadan, Senator Ajimobi, in an attempt to mock Senator Ladoja’s educational policy of 30 students/ pupils per class, boasted that his own educational policies had gone beyond the 30 per class policy of Senator Ladoja. Pray tell, what policy did governor Ajimobi implement that is superior to Senator Ladoja’s? Is it the merging of schools where we now have over a hundred students in a class ? How can a teacher manage a class of over a hundred pupils?The matter is even made worse with the stoppage of running grants for schools and teachers are poorly-motivated with their salaries coming ridiculously late. There is an acute shortage of teachers with no new re cruitments except the ones carried out on the pages of newspapers by the administration’s well- oiled propaganda machine. In contrast, Senator Ladoja introduced the 30- students-per-class policy to decongest class rooms and raise the standard to encourage teachers to manage classrooms more efficiently. He recruited 5,000 NCE graduates as teachers for primary schools and some 1,000 non- teaching staff. Also, about 1,500 graduates were employed as teachers in the state secondary schools. He carried out mass motivation of teachers by promoting over 700 primary school teachers to become head teachers. 400 secondary school teachers were also made school principals. In fact, Senator Ladoja implemented countless other deeds in order to improve education in Oyo State. The state is even rated the second best-performing educational state by SUBEB. All these seem to be in the past as the Ajimobi government has wrecked the educational ship in the pacesetter state. Senator Ladoja not only positively impacted the educational sector alone, he did so in other areas. The amiable former governor mandated local government chairmen to construct a minimum of 5 kilometres of roads in their local government areas every year. He created employment by providing enabling environments for businesses to thrive. He ensured that salaries were paid on the 25th of every month. He encouraged farmers to cultivate cash crops like sorghum and helped them find buyers for the crops. He brought the Mahindra Tractors Company to start an assembly plant in the state, not only to create employment, but to fully harness the agrarian potential of the state. These and many more were the things carried out by the man of the people. Little wonder they want him back and wistfully look forward to his return. It is true what they say : “Nobody ever has enough of a good thing”.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 06:57:33 +0000
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