The Governor of Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde, has ordered the removal of shanties and makeshift shops around public schools to create a conducive and safe learning environment for students.
Makinde gave the order during a midnight inspection tour of some public schools in Ibadan, the state capital.
The governor ordered owners of such properties to remove them within seven days, in preparation for the new academic session of primary and secondary schools.
Speaking with newsmen after the inspection, Makinde bemoaned the condition of some public school environments inspected, noting that such environments defeat the purpose of basic and secondary education.
Among the schools inspected were St Gabriel Secondary School Mokola, Baptist Secondsry School Oke Ado, and C & S New Eden Primary School Mokola.
“Some of the schools we’ve been to, you see shanties being built by the fence of schools.
“Even at St Gabriel here, the entrance is almost blocked by people having shops very close to the entrance to the school; that is not conducive for learning.
“So what we’ve done is we’ve gone round and we are saying that if you have anything attached to the fence of a school you must remove them.
“We are going to give them about a week to remove those things, to clear these so when our children come back to school we know they are coming into a conducive environment for learning,” he said.
The governor also used the medium to read the riot act to members of the public who were fond of indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the median of dual carriage roads.
He warned that anyone culpable of the offence would be dealt with accordingly.
“Also we’ve taken the opportunity to look at the situation with the solid waste management, you see most medians have become dump sites; that also has to stop.
“So we’ve gone round, we will go back to the drawing board, obviously something is not working with the architecture that we have in place.
“We are strugling, we will go back to the drawing board and see what has to be done next to have the kind of environment that we realy want to to be proud of,” Makinde said.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Mojeed Mogbonjubola, and other government functonaries were in company of Gov. Makinde during the tour.