Monday Okpebholo, the governor of Edo State, accused the government of Godwin Obaseki, who led the Peoples Democratic Party in the previous administration, of failing to provide pupils with access to books that President Bola Tinubu gifted to the state because they included the president’s face. At the same time, the governor has started distributing books and remodeling public schools around the state.
Fred Itau, Okpebholo’s chief press secretary, said in a statement on Monday that eight schools serving the state’s three senatorial districts will be the focus of the first stage of the renovation.
The governor disclosed this information while overseeing the delivery of textbooks, notebooks, and other educational supplies in the state capital of Benin City.
He ordered the distribution of the books across the 18 local government areas of the state. Okpebholo concluded that the act of hoarding the books as an act of wickedness.
The governor in the company of the Edo State Universal Education Board Executive Chairman, Paddy Iyamu; a former member of the House of Representatives for Oredo Federal Constituency, Omoregie Ogbiede-Ihama and other top government functionaries, later inspected facilities at the New Era College in Benin City.
The facility is a special school for young people involved in sporting activities which was built by the late Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, the governor of Old Bendel State.
Okpehbolo said, “These books you see here were donated by the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu for use by Edo children, but the immediate past administration did not distribute them to our children because the President’s face is printed on the books.
“I want to thank the President for his kind gesture, and for me, the action of the former administration is an act of wickedness. This warehouse is filled with books donated by the President of Nigeria, but because of the wickedness, the then governor prevented the books from being distributed to the children. Today, we are here to distribute the books to our children.
“This is New Era College at the centre of the city. You are here. See for yourself the rot in the system. We just entered the classroom where our children were taught sitting on the floor. I am here with the SUBEB chairman and I am giving him an instruction to put all the modalities on the ground for the commencement of the reconstruction of this school. This school is for Edo children.
“The former governor refused Edo children the use of these books provided by the President, but he could not provide seats for the children to sit comfortably while learning. The action of the former governor is an act of wickedness of the highest order.”
He added, “This administration is coming back to renovate the school, and in the next few weeks, you will start seeing transformation in this school in terms of reconstruction.
“We have gone round to look at the facilities and structure of the school, and it is in a serious state, desiring attention, and the Governor failed to develop the state and the school. It is not acceptable.
“Keeping these books away from our children is wickedness, and his actions were wrong. He said he has developed the education system using Edobest, but what we see here today is not best for our children.
On his part, the SUBEB Executive Chairman, Iyamu, said the governor gave a matching order for the books to be distributed across the 18 Local al Government Areas of the state and that the order will be carried out strictly.
