The Kogi state government has said it is heavily investing in Model Science Secondary Schools and also ensure their security to encourage enrolment in public schools.
This, it said , would reverse the trend whereby parents register their wards in private schools because of the bad condition of public schools.
The state Commissioner for Education, Kingsley Fanwo, disclosed this while speaking at the Model Science Secondary School, Okebukun, in Mopamuro local government area, to journalists on tour of projects executed by both the state and federal governments under the Renewed Hope Agenda of Presiden Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Sunday.
According to him, the quality of facilities and the aesthetic is far beyond what can be found in private schools within the area.
To protect the schools, the commissioner said the state had put in place what he called a multi-layered architecture to protect students and staff from any security breach.
This, Fanwo said, was structured to bring in the local government chairmen, trained vigilantes now absorbed into the civil service, local hunters, and the police.
Fanwo said: “We also have some other areas. We are putting technology into it. We will not tell you where it is. But as we are entering here, right from the control room in Lokoja, they have seen our vehicles entering this place. But we won’t go deep into that.
“With what happened in Osara, we have been able to put technology as part of our security architecture. And that is helping us a great deal. So, our puppies are very safe.”
“And, you know, when you hear things like the attempt to kidnap and all of that, except you go to a miracle center, if you are in a designated government center, it is safe and secure,” he added.
He said the duo of health and education are major priorities under the “governance pillars” of the Ododo administration, adding that “beyond building facilities, the government is also focused on access and affordability.”
The commissioner said: “In most of the villages that you see in Kogi state, they have brought those remodelled primary health care centers to the place. And also, on affordability, you know, our health insurance scheme is one of the best in the country, not just because we have just commissioned a new fantastic Head Office for it, but because it is reaching the grassroots.
“And, you know, people are accessing it. And apart from that, pregnant women, they access free Medicare. And in the words of the governor, he does not want people to die in the process of giving birth to life. And also, the other area is zero to six children. When you take them there, they don’t pay anything.
“What this is telling us is social security. A government that wants to defend the poor, the children, who will grow up to learn about what government has done for them to enable them to grow and then be able to repay this by being patriotic and contributing to the development of the state,” Fanwo further explained.
The team was also at the Kogi State University, Kabba, where the Vice Chancellor, Prof. K.I.T. Eniola, said the university was targeting August for the completion of new student hostels.
Prof. Eniola said the university is currently constructing a 300-room hostel for male students designed to also teach hygiene and self-care, noting that “the design of the hostel prioritizes students’ welfare and independent living.”
The VC disclosed that the hostel would accommodate between 300 to 400 male students, with a similar design planned for female students.
This, he said, was made possible because of the increased revenue available to the state government through the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
On TetFund interventions at the university, Eniola said “two laboratories abandoned by the defunct College of Education, Technical, Mopa, which was previously on the campus, have now been completed within eight weeks.”
