Oyo
Ready to Return Missionary Schools
Compulsory building insurance policy out, Defaulters risk
jail term
Oyo
Ready to Return Missionary Schools
Oyo State governor, Christopher Alao-Akala, has at the International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, said the state has now resolved to return
schools taken over by previous governments in the state to their respective
owners. He said this while delivering a speech during series of breakfast meetings
held this year by the Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo. The governor who expressed
worry over the level of indiscipline, absence of religious and moral education,
and shameless disregard for professional ethics by teachers in schools, said
his government would have concluded the process of returning the schools "if
not that a committee saddled with the responsibility frustrated us."
Guest speaker at the event, Dr. Victor Olunloyo, former governor of the state
and two-time Commissioner for Education in the defunct Western State, criticised
the decision of the Brigadier Oluwole Rotimi administration that took over the
schools in 1975. He described the action as "thoughtless and a serious
mistake." "The wrong advice," the former governor said, "has
made the government a monopolist in the educational enterprise, whereas we need
fair competition to progress in life."
Alao-Akala, praised the alumni of Olivet Baptist High School for its leadership
role in the business of education in the state. He said the state government
admired its proactive and peaceful approach to the idea of returning the schools
to their former owners. This, he said, might be the model his government would
recommend to other schools. He solemnly craved for ideas from all stakeholders
of the schools affected in the state, because according to him, the matter demanded
"more cohesive input from those affected and not strictly a decision of
politicians."
Segun Amodu, president of Olivet Heights Alumni, said the idea of the meeting
was to create a forum for sensitising old students on the current state of the
school and to rally their support for the repair of the damage done to the school
as a result of its take-over from its founders. In a speech punctuated with
reminisce of the glorious times of the school, Amodu made a terse reference
to the present sordid picture. Said he: "collapse of school ethos and values,
the attenuation of school tradition and morale, the ruination of infrastructure,
the depletion of resources - financial and material..." He, however, proffered
a solution for the restoration of a brand equity of the model high school.
"We have to take stock of the current situation, share thoughts and exchange
ideas and give something back to Olivet Heights," he said. The event was
attended among other dignitaries by Bayo Sanda, former manager, Nigerian Television
Authority, Ibadan; Adisa Afonja, former Minister of Labour; Dr. Olu Ogunmola,
provost Oyo State College of Education; Olayiwola Olakojo, secretary to Oyo
State government; and A. B. Ojo, chief press secretary to the governor of Oyo
State.
Compulsory building insurance policy out, Defaulters risk jail term
It is now
an offence for any individual, public or private organisation constructing a
building above two storeys in the country not to take an insurance policy covering
the structure and workers. And where there is a violation of this order which
derives from the provision of Sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act 2003,
such offenders are liable to three years imprisonment or a fine of N250, 000
or both, according to a Federal Government order last week. Also, the law prescribes
a fine of N100, 000 for a tenant or owner of such insured building in respect
of loss of, or damage to property or bodily injury or death suffered by any
user of the premises and third party.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Ambassador Baba Gana
Kingibe who reeled out the enforcement order, explained that the Federal Government
was worried about the persistent incidents of collapsed buildings with their
attendant losses. He spoke at the flag-off of the implementation and launch
of the policy in Abuja last week. He said the Federal Government's action was
in line with the present administration's concern for the welfare of the citizenry
and its sustained policy of ensuring the security of lives and property.
Kingibe said: "The collapse of any building will always leave behind stories
of woes which include loss of loved ones, loss of investment and physical and
emotional pains to people some of whom may be only passersby who were in the
wrong place at the wrong time. Building collapse is not an accident. It occurs
as a result of structural default, pure and simple. As such, non can be immuned."
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Finance Minister, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, assured
of the Federal Government's continued support to the insurance industry to make
it competitive in the global arena. He urged all owners of buildings to take
the advantage of the Act to protect themselves and innocent members of the public
who are usually the victims of their indiscretion. The Commissioner of Insurance,
Mr. Fola Daniels, listed structures covered under the Act to include: all buildings
occupied by government ministries; extra-ministerial departments; statutory
bodies; tenement houses; hostels; lodges; or licences and any building to which
members of the public have access for the purpose of obtaining educational or
medical service or for recreational purposes or for business transaction.
The spectacle of building collapse in the country has spread from Lagos to other
parts of the country. Lagos, the city with the largest concentration of high-rise
buildings, has had the most collapsed buildings with many fatalities. Three-storey,
uncompleted buildings upwards have recorded more incidences of collapse. Port
Harcourt, Ibadan, many other cities, and lately, Abuja, have recorded their
fair share of collapsed buildings. Almost in all cases, no developer or landlord
of such collapsed edifices had ever been apprehended and prosecuted as many
state governments in which such incidents happened, had publicly vowed to do.
The best that the state governments had done in almost all the cases was to
revoke the right of the landlord or developer and confiscate the parcel of land.
The relations of people killed during a building-collapse or the injured in
such incidences have never been compensated. In the Abuja incident in which
a four-storey building under construction collapsed in late July, over 50 persons
were reported trapped, and at least three people were confirmed dead by the
second day of the incidence. More bodies were recovered later.