Oyo legislators pass vote of no confidence on Education commissioner

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

Oyo State House of Assembly on Thursday showed their displeasure towards the state Commissioner for Education, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela over the handling of the state’s school feeding programme, an initiative of the Federal Government.

The Commissioner, who was summoned by the state assembly over various allegations and complaints by food vendors including ill-treatments, nonpayment of their allowances received a vote of no confidence.

According to the food vendors, the failure of the state government to do the needful had forced them to stay at home without serving the kids for the past two weeks.

During the session, a lawmaker said investigations revealed that ‎the Ministry was splitting funds meant for the homegrown feeding programme into two, adding that the Ministry was playing the role of aggregators (food suppliers) by supplying the foods and deducting the money directly from the vendors’ accounts.

The motion raised by Oseni Abdul-Ganiyu from Irepo/Olorunsogo State Constituency said the food items supplied from the Ministry were always at the verge of spoiling before reaching the food vendors.

Speaking to newsmen after the session, Olowofela denied any wrong doing, saying that the legislators acted on falsehood.

According to him, “There were allegations that Ministry of Education was dividing money of Homegrown School Feeding programme into two. And the ministry has no power over the accounts of the food vendors and the aggregators, since the money is credited into their various accounts directly from the Federal Government.

“The issue is that the house did not allow me to explain myself but said I was rude. Even in the court of law, you must give a fair hearing or when you invite somebody over allegations like this, you allow him to react to the issue. And your conclusion (House) was that you are passing a vote of no confidence. Well, there are two sides to a coin. That is the way they see it. That was the motion moved on the floor of the House, a document which is not true. So, I have the right to protect my name and say the truth. I am saying the truth and I am standing on it”.

Continuing, “When issues like this occur, there is what is called temperament of the moment. Since the start of this programme, it has brought about N2.7b to Oyo State and we have never asked anybody for one kobo. So, if somebody raise allegations like this in the public domain, it has to be trashed out in the public domain.

“I can give you the details of everything and the food vendors are here, you can ask them questions. But, I want to say I have respect for individuals and the House of Assembly as an institution but I must correct, and I have the responsibility to correct, a lie. A lie will not become a truth because it is told in the House of Assembly. We labour day and night to make sure this programme works”, the commissioner submitted.