Integration: ‘South-West shouldn’t rely on FG’

South

Chairman, Osun State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties and Regional Integration, Mr Olufemi Fafiyebi, represents

Chairman, Osun State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties and Regional Integration, Mr Olufemi Fafiyebi, represents Obokun constituency in the legislature. In this interview with TUNDE ODESOLA, Fafiyebi comments on some national issues.

What’s your view on the removal of fuel subsidy?

Subsidy should not be removed from oil because as an oil producing nation, the average Nigerian should be able to afford fuel. The removal of subsidy from oil is designed by the Federal Government to profit the rich and impoverish the masses. When it was being sold at N65 per litre, many people could not afford to buy it. At filling stations, you see people buying one litre of fuel into their motorcycles and three litres into their cars. If they truly could afford it, they would buy more. It is saddening that the Federal Government expends huge sums of money on the country’s oil sector without result. The Action Congress of Nigeria, through regional integration, will ensure rapid development of the South-West. The South-West should not live on allocations from the FG; the ACN will advance the region beyond living from hand to mouth as the party has done in Lagos State.

What’s your view on the dismal outing of Osun State students, who wrote school leaving certificate examinations.

The dismal result of Osun students in the examinations conducted by the West African Examination Council and the National Examination Council reflects the decadence inherited by the Rauf Aregbesola administration from the immediate past administration in the state. The massive failure is not at secondary schools level alone. It permeates primary education too. In fact, the general rot at the secondary school level is an offshoot of the decadence in primary education. The learning environment is poor.

In this regard, the government is building new schools and recreating the learning environment. The government has purchased for Senior Secondary School students, 5,000 units of computer tabs, which have subjects, lesson notes and numerous instructional materials. The tabs are run by solar energy and they will be returned by students upon graduation. Students, who want to keep the tabs after graduation can do so upon the payment of a cost. The state government has mandated public schools to run extra-classes and we have embarked on awareness campaigns for parents and guardians to know the importance of education. In a meeting with secondary school heads, the state House of Assembly was told that some primary school pupils admitted into JSS1 could not write their names. We are looking at meeting the heads of primary schools at a later date to cross-fertilise ideas. From JS1 to SS2, all students must take English Literature. We are looking at having them take Yoruba Literature too as a compulsory subject.

Does the legislature have a plan to conduct legislative sessions in Yoruba?

Yes, we are planning to amend the House rules to accommodate the use of Yoruba for legislative sessions. Yoruba is now a compulsory language in Osun schools. Students must choose a subject among Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa. By next January, we shall have more people at the gallery of the House when we conduct plenary in Yoruba. We have decided to conduct our affairs in Yoruba on a particular day of the week in order to lead by example. If we want to promote Yoruba Language and culture, I think it should start from the House.

Do you agree with the clamour for the computerisation of the state’s judiciary?

The world is not waiting for us. In the US, emphasis is shifting away from bearing big books into courtrooms. The state government is looking into ways of repositioning the judiciary towards meeting the challenges of the 21st century.