Wemi Jones is the Commissioner for Education, Kogi State. In this interview with FRANCIS KADIRI, he discusses the state of education in Kogi, noting that the administration has ended 29 years of unguarded pursuit in education by putting in place a legislative framework for orderly educational development while strategic plans and policy reforms are being implemented by the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello. Excerpts:
What was the state of education in Kogi State when your administration came on board and what improvements have you made?
Education in Kogi State was at its lowest ebb when Governor Yahaya Bello took over governance of the state in 2016. I came into office on January 29, 2020, which is less than two years ago. I am very much aware of the rot in the education sector that we met on ground.
What we did was to urgently set a template for sustainable growth and development of Kogi State. Of course, a number of things were half done, but when I got into office, I put in place some strategies in order to ensure that I concluded them, and then I began to implement some new initiatives.
What new initiative have you implemented since coming into office?
When I got into office, I discovered that Kogi State was operating without a fully enacted education law since its creation 29 years before we came on board. In less than a year of my getting into office, I worked on that and I had the full support of the governor toward ensuring that we fully enact an education law for Kogi State.
The essence of having a law in force was necessary because the administration needed to regulate various practices and activities of people operating in the education sector of the state.
I am happy to inform you that we successfully concluded the process in less than a year. As we speak, I am proud to confirm to you that Kogi State now has an education law that guides and regulates our education sector.
What goals did you score for the state through the legislative framework?
Before the enactment of the law, parents and guardians decided whether or not their children would go to school. Some parents try to vindicate themselves using some excuses. But all that has changed now. The new education law criminalizes failure of parents or guardians to send a child to school. So, there is currently no excuse why a child of school age should not be in school in Kogi State.
“the government just put in place a strategic plan to boost science education in the state. The state desires to produce quality secondary school leavers who have the interest and intellect required for careers in science”
The point is that it is now a crime in Kogi State for a child of school age to be absent from school during official school hours. The new law is that all children of school age must be in school. The essence of that clause in the law is to massively reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state.
“The government just put in place a strategic plan to boost science education in the state. The state desires to produce quality secondary school leavers who have the interest and intellect required for careers in science”
What are the long- and short-term impacts of that law?
There is no way you can address insecurity and banditry if you are not educating the children who will grow up to become youths and tools who are used in crime. Governor Yahaya Bello has a clear understanding of the correlation between youth and crime, and he knows that by educating the youth, he is fighting crime because education enlightens the people.
When a child is out of school, what plans are you putting in place for his future? Today’s out of school children become the thugs, bandits and kidnappers of the future.
So, the strategy is to catch them young by ensuring that they are in school and guiding them gradually on the path of progress.
With what we are doing, some children will definitely proceed to the university while some will proceed to vocational schools.
What is the development plan of government for the Kogi State education sector?
Apart from having a well-mapped out growth and development targets up to Year 2030, we have further broken down our targets into three, yearly, meaning that for every three years, we have set goals by which we evaluate the rate at which we are realizing set goals, and this definitely makes it easy for us to measure our performance. We expect so much growth and progress because we have a realistic plan for the education sector.
In addition to Kogi State Education Sector Plan for 2021 to 2030, there is also a Kogi State Strategic Operations Plan from 2021 to 2023. So, in 2023, we will sit down and take stock of what we have achieved and devise new strategies of going forward.
Can you tell us more about the recently established state-owned Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Kogi State?
The high premium placed on education by the Governor Yahaya Bello administration actually inspired the establishment of the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Kogi State.
Let me tell you something about that university: The beauty of that university is that it was established during the Covid-19 lockdown in Nigeria, when everybody was asked to stay indoors. Because Kogi State has a visionary and exemplary governor, the situation was different as we continued to found institutions for development even during Covid-19 era.
Even though we were observing Covid-19 protocols as directed by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, we ensured that we did not shut down activities in the state.
What is the status of the university in terms of the number of courses being offered?
Lectures have actually commenced, and the university is offering degrees in 11 Bachelor-of-Science (BSC) courses. We just started the university, and we started very well and we are making very good progress.
What is the current number of students of the university at inception?
The university admitted well over 260 pioneer students and they are on campus.
Science is crucial to the technological advancement of nations. What is Kogi State doing to encourage its citizens to be ahead in pursuit of careers in science?
This question has come at a time when the government of the state just put in place a strategic plan to boost science education in the state. The state desires to produce quality secondary school leavers who have the interest and intellect required for careers in science. The idea is to make sure that we produce a lot of science-based tertiary students who would graduate and give scientific support to the country.
So we are developing a massive science, technology, engineering and mathematics based educational system through the establishment of model science secondary schools in the three senatorial districts of the state, namely: Kogi West, Kogi Central and Kogi East.
As we speak, massive construction work is in progress in four locations of the three senatorial districts as three schools are being constructed while a renovation project is in progress.
We are also upgrading our curriculum to ensure that we are up to date, and ensure that Kogi State is not left behind in the scheme of things.
What are you doing to improve basic and primary education in the state?
The Universal Basic Education Commission at the federal level has continued to give necessary support to the Kogi State Universal Basic Education Board. State governments have the role of providing some of the funds needed for projects while the UBEC will match the funds.
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has been exceptional in the provision of counterpart funding and that has triggered a lot of development in the primary education sector. Let me conclude by telling you that Kogi State is among the best seven states in terms of implementation of UBEC/SUBEB projects in Nigeria, and we have built over 1000 blocks of classrooms.
