Perturbed by the sorry state of their alma mater, Alumni of the Ibefun/ Ilado Comprehensive High School in Ogun State have called on concerned authorities to stop politicising developmental issues.
To them education being the bedrock of any functional society seemed to have been jettisoned by people in government, over political alignments and this is largely taken its toll on the required conducive environment for learning in the school.
Ibefun Ilado Comprehensive High School with 800 students from within Ibefun, Ilado communities and other neighbouring areas is in a deplorable state, as existing structures are old and may likely collapse soon.
An alumni of the school, Comrade Abdulwaheed Odunuga who spoke with journalist over the weekend, notes that many efforts to revamp the school could not come to fruition due to denial of approval by concerned authorities.
According to him, many well meaning individuals from the area could not do much to help due to the need for approval from government, which most times are denied on political grounds.
“I am passionate about restoring the glory of Ibefun Ilado Comprehensive High School because this is my alma mater, but much efforts made to get things fixed here, tends to hit a brick wall as government of the day have yielded much to politics than development that we so much desired here.
Over time the structures you see here has suffered neglect, many of the roofs blown off, window pane shattered,pillars already losing their grip,cracks here and there, virtually all structures are in a dilapidated state.
“My worse fear is the danger this pose for students being taught within the deplorable structure.
Many People’s Democratic Party (PDP) well meaning politicians, who have shown interest to get things fixed get rebuffed with the approval caveat.
The most pathetic thing is the fact that the school out of the benevolence of the community is located on a spacious landscape in Ibefun and Ilado community, clearly a boundary lines between Lagos and Ogun state, many parts of it already encroached by speculators.
“Owners of Petrolex firm operating in this area had also shown interest in salvaging the situation, but having seen that there is a politically alignment with PDP, approval was not granted.
“There is barely little or nothing the school handlers can do, given the fact that government have not being fair and they have been averse to help from anyone who has links with PDP politically.
“I was opportune to meet a office holder from the area who opened up to me that refusal of approval had been the bane of restoration of the school’s past glory.
“One is left to wonder,for how long will this continue with attendant negative effect it has on the student studying there.
“When the rains come around, the school environment get flooded and given the topography of the land accessing it becomes pretty difficult.
It is high time government tone down on politics and consider critical developments for the school and students sake.” Comrade Odunuga pleads.