Hon. (Lion) Austen Taiwo Oduloye served as the Education Secretary of the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) in Ikorodu between January 2010 and January 2020. In this interview with Kunle Adelabu, the Publisher/Reporter-in-Chief, THE IMPACT, conducted in his office on the eve of the completion of his second term in office, he bore his mind on various issues among which are Ikorodu LGEA’s achievements under his administration, his relationship with teachers, infrastructural development in schools and expectations from his successor among others. Excerpts:
IMPACT – For the record sir, kindly introduce yourself and your position sir.
Oduloye – I am Hon. Taiwo Oduloye, the Education Secretary of Ikorodu Local Government Education Authority between January 25 to January 25 2020. I have spent two terms of five years each.
IMPACT – Sir, you have been at the helms of affairs of the Ikorodu LGEA for ten years, what has the experience been like as the Education Secretary?
Oduloye: It is a mixed experience. I have had fulfilled tenures. There were some that we started together but they did not complete their first tenure and there are others that were only able to serve first term but unable to secure the second term. With the grace of God, I was able to complete my first term successfully and was also given a second term.
The experience is good in the sense that I have been able to put in my best for the development of my division – Ikorodu. We recorded many achievements which we are proud of in terms of enrolment of pupils in our primary schools. We have almost three times enrolment from 2010 till date and we are still having more. Just last week, we were given approval for the establishment of new primary schools in Idera community that is located between Odogunyan and Agbede, and this has taken the number of our primary schools to 64. In addition to that, we have one Home Economics Centre, One Arts and Craft Centre, one mini-resource centre, one computer centre and ICT Centre. We thank God for the fact that our primary schools have improved tremendously and kudos to the good work of the Lagos State Government in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission.
Most of our primary schools have been remodeled while some were renovated and others were given new structures of 13 plus 1 and 17 plus 1 classrooms, starting from Jogedejoye Nursery and Primary School, along Isawo road, Anglican primary School, Isawo, Agodo-Alara, African Bethel Primary School, Erikorodu, which has been abandoned for many years. It was commissioned last year. We thank Lagos State Government for the transformation. The other aspect that the government is still trying to do is the employment of more teachers. We still need more non-teaching staff such as security men, gardners, messengers and cleaners in our schools. We are appealing to the government to give the LGEAs the opportunity to employ non-teaching staff.
We have highly qualified teachers. We have teachers with Master degree and some are even pursuing their Phd programmes. Overall, we rate ourselves very high.
IMPACT: Sir, during your ten year tenure, how many schools out of the 64 that you were able to facilitated or established?
Oduloye: We have very few because the process of having a new school is very tedious and demanding unless a community is ready. It is the community that will initiate the process. Ososolu Primary School at Eruwen is now a full-fledge school. We also have Agodo-Alara at Odogunyan Zone. When we got into office, it was 61 schools but now, it is 64. There is also Idera Primary School that was recently approved and another one is in the pipeline, though, it is yet to be approved. It is located at Olu-Odo. We also have Lajo Primary School which was started through the community effort before we appealed to the government for its takeover. I think about five schools were established during my tenure and l thank God for that.
IMPACT: You said that you have highly qualified teachers but you still need more…. (cuts in)
Oduloye: Yes, because some of them are retiring and some are dead and they need replacement. The process of employing more teachers is ongoing in SUBEB as we speak but it has not been finalized. We hope that by February, those that have been employed would be announced and Ikorodu is going to have its own fair share.
IMPACT: How will you describe your relationship with the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Primary Schools Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON)?
Oduloye: My relationship with them are very cordial. I will cite NUT as an example because I am also a former officer of NUT. I was the second Vice Chairman at Alimosho and when I got to Ikorodu, I have been supporting NUT. I gave the approval for the NUT edifice and went to defend it in Lagos that it was easy to monitor and guide what they are doing but all of that is history now. AOPSHON work directly with me and we also have very cordial relationship. I cannot do anything without calling the Head Teachers. I also have good relationship with the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU). My office is always open except I am not around and I did told my staff to always welcome everybody because you can never tell who is coming.
IMPACT: I have met with teachers and LGEA staff and as human beings, they have divergent views about you. Sir, in what areas will you say you ought to have done better but which you didn’t in your ten years at the saddle?
Oduloye: Unless somebody come forward to point out those areas, it may be difficult to say. I have no doubt that there is no perfect being and as a result, in one way or the other, I might have crossed some people’s paths and stepped on toes. They have to know that it is in the normal course of duty and I don’t have ill feeling towards anybody. I hold my meetings with my staff regularly and I operate an open-door policy with my staff. I even told them that they can write their observations on a paper and drop it under my door if it’s difficult for them to come forward to tell me. I also encourage them to send me text to call my attention to areas that they feel that I should look at. I cannot be 100% perfect but I tried my best as a human being and I refer to SUBEB areas that I see are beyond me.
IMPACT: Sir, now that you are leaving office, what are your suggestions and expectations from your successor or what areas do you think that he should look into to succeed?
Oduloye: That is a very good question. Though, I don’t know who is coming after me, I have reached out to the Ikorodu Local Government which is the nominating authority about three months ago informing them that my tenure will lapse this January and that I would love that they do the selection so that whoever is selected will come on board to observe the way things are done but due to some reasons, they have not been able to come up with anybody. Since there cannot be vacuum, I will be handing over to the most senior director in my management on my exit on Friday (January 24). I will be ready to come around to do the proper handing over whenever the new Education Secretary is finally selected but that opportunity of being with me and having interactions have been missed. My advice is that whoever is coming on board after me must carry the staff along and listen to the past leaders because they are major stakeholders. Though, he is not expected to do anything contrary to the government guidelines but he should listen to their advice. Whoever that will be selected must definitely be in the education sector and must be somebody that understands the system.
IMPACT: Any message for the teachers out there, especially those contesting for the position that you are vacating considering the fact that the secondary and primary school sectors are divided over the struggle for the position?
Oduloye: My parting word is that teachers are one and there is no discrimination between the primary and secondary school sections. We are one in the sense that teachers will always be teachers and that they are after a common goal which is to ensure that our pupils and students succeed. The primary school is the basic for our young ones and if the foundation is weak, it is going to have an adverse effect on them when they get to secondary school. All teachers must ensure that they work hard, improve on their qualifications, get more experience in terms of training and with that, the sky is the limit for them. I have the belief that government will compensate them as required.
IMPACT: Thank you for your time sir and do have a peaceful and deserving retirement.
Oduloye: It’s a pleasure to have you around Mr Adelabu. I always enjoy having you around.
