GOOD DAY KWARANS: LET’S DIALOGUE We have come to what can be considered a defining moment in our educational development in our dear State of Harmony. And it is good that we are where we are now because it affords us a great opportunity to decide where we are going. Are we after the Kwara of tomorrow as our founding fathers dreamt it and as we ourselves have relived the dreams time and over again or are we going to allow a diversion? Our forebears bequeathed a peaceful, harmonious ?State where all, irrespective of religion, tribe or race, leave happily and optimise their educational potentials to live a decent and purposeful life. They had given to us a State where we were one another brothers’ keepers. This was what we inherited. An issue that affords us all a unique opportunity to decide, now and for a long while to come, what we want our state to be, for instance, is the ongoing argument over the state of our schools; the ownership of grant-aided schools and attendant issues related to such. It is gratifying to note that some other states have navigated this same path and reached conclusions that perfectly suit the dream they have of their communities. Just as well, it is gratifying to note that the Kwara State government has clearly indicated the direction we ought to pursue in handling the matter; to think of the larger picture on the issue instead of looking at the narrow view connected with personal benefits. The narrow view would see the matter as a conflict between Christianity and Islam but the larger view would look at it as a process to review how we give education to our children; the future of our state, and who gives such education with the government providing the needed conducive environment. The danger in looking at the issue from the narrow perspective is that it will divide us; it will force us to make decisions and reach conclusions based on restricted interest and if we look at what is happening in other parts of the world where religion has been allowed to determine critical issues as we have on our hands, then we would realise that we may not realise the Kwara State of our dream; a state devoid ethno-religious acrimonies. The danger in allowing the narrow perspective is that it exposes us to the manipulation of political hawks who are delight in crisis; men and women whose stock in trade is to stoke division among communities in order to make gains for themselves. But we must be extra careful not to allow such people hijack what is clearly a legitimate demand by school owners to take over their schools and a ready response from government to yield to such request using the instrumentality of the law. Whether the schools are owned by faith groups or individuals, we must never allow the fact that the products of such schools, the teachers of such schools, even most of the owners of such schools, are resident in this state; they interact on daily basis, they pay their taxes to government and contribute in other ways to the social and economic development of this state. In essence, any conflict will affect all of us; out children who attend these schools, the teachers who are our brothers and sisters as well as the owners who are our kith and kin. Why then must we allow views other than the need to ensure the emergence of a Kwara, the land of equal opportunities for all, religion or tribal background notwithstanding? I vote for a Kwara where my children can attend any school, whether owned by a Christian or Islamic group, knowing full well that the school is not going to teach just religion but give such children functional education that will make them come back later in life to contribute positively to the growth of our state. I insist this must be the attitude of every genuine Kwaran, both in government and outside of it and once we adopt this attitude, it will moderate our dispositions and conclusions on the current seeming disagreement between the government and the school owners. A Yoruba adage says that once you are in the market place, you focus attention on your client, not on the expectedly noisy environment of the market. The stakeholders in the discussion should just adopt that wisdom of that proverb and refuse to be distracted by the noise of those who may have nothing concrete to contribute to the issue. I think we should give government opportunity to handle the matter with a view to ensuring the matter is rested positively. Our governor said something I consider worthwhile on this matter:“government has been running grant-aided schools 100 percent instead of releasing fund to them at intervals. Now it is becoming difficult for our local governments to pay the teachers and as at today government is saying that since we are doing so much on these schools, lets completely take over the schools with the consent of their owners and PTA. But those who don’t want can tell us and we shall work it out. “We have to work it out thoroughly because we cannot disrupt the students just like that. Those who don’t want to give us their schools, we shall set up committees to work out our assets sharing formula but it is not something to be done in one day; it has to go through a process. We can’t hand over schools in a hurry because it is important that we do not truncate the education of the pupils. We are going to have an amicable asset sharing formula because it is all about our children and our state so what we will do will ensure that both the government and the proprietors are comfortable.” For a governor that has been consistent in living up to his promises I think we should give ABDULFATTAH AHMED an opportunity to follow the path that leads to the larger view on this issue that the enemy would love it divide us. For the Record Kwara State GOVERNOR DR ABDULFATAH AHMED says the All Progressives Congress remains the only platform to provide the needed change and good governance for Nigerians in economic, social and security spheres of life. GOVERNOR AHMED stated this in Ilorin during an interaction with news men, adding that the APC will provide the needed change for Nigerians by reviewing the interest of the people to ensure governance. Speaking on the defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party, GOVERNOR AHMED explained that the five governors and other progressives left the party because of their differences in the way policies were being implemented in driving governance. He attributed the defection to the inability of PDP to run an inclusive government and the inability of the leadership to manage the crisis within the party. The governor said his government had disbursed over seven hundred million naira to forty-one thousand cooperative societies which he described as potential employers of labour. On his endorsement by the Kwara State APC stakeholders, GOVERNOR AHMED said it is a call and challenge for more people focused programme. He expressed profound appreciation to the leadership of the party promising to deliver more dividends if democracy if finally elected by the good people of the state. GOVERNOR AHMED added that his government had kept faith with what he had promised to do by deploying resources accordingly. On the Community Health Insurance Scheme, GOVERNOR AHMED disclosed that the present administration had upscaled the scheme to cover 80,000 Kwarans while plans were underway to enroll over one million Kwarans into the scheme by 2018 to enable rural dwellers access proper healthcare delivery. Oba, Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, writes from Ilorin.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:13:34 +0000
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