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| Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State (centre) in a warm handshake with the President of Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Chief Adebayo Oyero (left) at the 2013 World Teachers' Day celebrations in Ibadan on Saturday. With them i the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mrs. Monsurat Sunmonu (right). |
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has lashed out at the past administration in the state for playing unnecessary politics at the expense of development, saying this had left the state at the brink of precipice.
The governor, while speaking at this year’s World Teachers’ Day celebrations held at Teachers’ House, Ibadan on Saturday, said that the level of development he met when he took over the mantle of leadership of the state in May 2011 was zero.
He added that the lack of development permeated all sectors of the economy, including education, thus drawing back the state in the comity of other states.
``Oyo State was at the precipice as at the time we came in. Development was zero. People paid too much attention to politics at the expense of development of the state. Everything they were doing was more of propaganda and mere noise making; it lacked substance,’’ the governor said.
Governor Ajimobi, who said that he was overwhelmed by the potentials which he discovered that the state possessed, added that it they had been properly channeled by the past administration, the state would have been much better.
``It is not enough for anybody to have vision or to dream dreams. What is important is for the person to actualize his vision or dream. If they had used the opportunity they had very well, Oyo State would have been much better than we met it,’’ he said.
The governor, while congratulating the teachers on this year’s World Teachers’ Day, praised their efforts at making the society better through impartation of knowledge.
``Teachers determine the world; they empower people to think; to shape the world; to impart knowledge, values and to help people to unleash their potentials and set the pace,’’ he said.
Governor Ajimobi said that his administration would continue to accord teachers in the state their priority attention and ensure that their welfare was attended to even as he directed the representatives of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to meet with government to address their demands.
In his address, the Chairman of the state wing of NUT, Mr. Joseph Babatunde said the importance of the World Teachers’ Day was to re-emphasise the importance of teachers and to further attest to the fact that no nation supersedes the quality of its teachers and that teachers deserved to be recognized and have their rewards here on earth.
He commended the governor for his efforts at rescuing the education sector from total collapse, adding that his physical presence at the occasion had not only added colour to the celebrations, but had also indicated the beginning of a fresh and robust relationship between the state government, the teachers and the union.
