Stoppage of WASSCE fee payment temporary – Ajimobi
AUGUST 21, 2015 : OLUFEMI ATOYEBI, IBADAN
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The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has explained that the
decision to stop the payment of the West African Secondary
School Certificate Examination fee for candidates in the state
public schools and the introduction of N3,000 annual
Developmental Levy for the pupils are temporary.
The governor said the decisions were borne out of the economic
reality in the state and the desire to address the abysmal
performance of candidates in the examination.
Ajimobi said this while fielding questions from newsmen at the
Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, on Thursday evening.
The governor added that the decision to introduce the levy was
taken after it was discovered that parents no longer involve
themselves in the education of their children.
He added that the Parents Teachers Association and community
leader were consulted before the decisions were taken.
The governor said, “With the paucity of fund in the state, we had
to face the reality that we could not continue to sponsor children
without involving their parents in a way. This is why we
introduced the developmental levy. It’s just for a period of time;
as soon as things improve for the state financially, we will put it
down. It is an emergency situation that we must address.
“Training of children is not the sole responsibility of government
or teachers, parents must play their role too. We discussed with
the parents and realised that because parents are not involved
in secondary education of their children, they no longer bother
what happen to them.
“We set up a committee to discuss with Parents Teachers
Association, community leaders, individual parents and so on.
Interestingly, many of the parents felt that if they were also
contributing by paying something, they would be more attentive
to the education of their children.”
While pointing out that the levy was agreed with the parents,
Ajimobi said the government was aware of what he called a
‘political backlash’.
“The N3000 levy was equally jointly agreed upon but I must
point out that the emergency situation will not be forever. We
envisage political backlash on the decision but we cannot
promise what we cannot afford. Oyo State now earns around
N3bn from Federal Allocation while we have a wage bill of more
than N5bn.
Our Internally Generated Revenue is N1bn; so every month, we
will continue to owe if we don’t adjust our spending,” the
governor added.
Leave a Comment
The Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, has explained that the
decision to stop the payment of the West African Secondary
School Certificate Examination fee for candidates in the state
public schools and the introduction of N3,000 annual
Developmental Levy for the pupils are temporary.
The governor said the decisions were borne out of the economic
reality in the state and the desire to address the abysmal
performance of candidates in the examination.
Ajimobi said this while fielding questions from newsmen at the
Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, on Thursday evening.
The governor added that the decision to introduce the levy was
taken after it was discovered that parents no longer involve
themselves in the education of their children.
He added that the Parents Teachers Association and community
leader were consulted before the decisions were taken.
The governor said, “With the paucity of fund in the state, we had
to face the reality that we could not continue to sponsor children
without involving their parents in a way. This is why we
introduced the developmental levy. It’s just for a period of time;
as soon as things improve for the state financially, we will put it
down. It is an emergency situation that we must address.
“Training of children is not the sole responsibility of government
or teachers, parents must play their role too. We discussed with
the parents and realised that because parents are not involved
in secondary education of their children, they no longer bother
what happen to them.
“We set up a committee to discuss with Parents Teachers
Association, community leaders, individual parents and so on.
Interestingly, many of the parents felt that if they were also
contributing by paying something, they would be more attentive
to the education of their children.”
While pointing out that the levy was agreed with the parents,
Ajimobi said the government was aware of what he called a
‘political backlash’.
“The N3000 levy was equally jointly agreed upon but I must
point out that the emergency situation will not be forever. We
envisage political backlash on the decision but we cannot
promise what we cannot afford. Oyo State now earns around
N3bn from Federal Allocation while we have a wage bill of more
than N5bn.
Our Internally Generated Revenue is N1bn; so every month, we
will continue to owe if we don’t adjust our spending,” the
governor added.
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