Osun government opens school edifice, launches citizens identification cards

The Osun State government yesterday commissioned another state-of-the-art school building at the Ilesa Government High School, Ilesha

The state government also officially unveiled the Citizens Identification Initiative Cards named Omoluabi Cards to be distributed to the state indigenes.

The commissioning of Ilesha Government High School was in continuation government’s policy to construct brand new state-of-the-art 100 Elementary Schools, 50 Middle Schools and 20 High Schools. Of these, 20 Elementary Schools, 22 Middle Schools and 11 High Schools have so far been completed.

Four high schools were previously commissioned, starting with the Wole Soyinka Government High School, Ejigbo, Osogbo Government High School (formally Osogbo Grammar School); Adventist Government High School, Ede (formerly Seventh Day Adventist Grammar School) and Ataoja Government High School, Osogbo (formerly Ataoja School of Science).

In his speech titled: The Making of the Educated Person, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the state now has public schools that could compete with the best in the world.

Aregbesola said the provision of these new school buildings was in fulfillment of his administration’s promise to provide functional education in the state.

Meanwhile, Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Investment and Empowerment, Ismail Jayeoba Alagbada, said Omoluabi Card, which he described as the residency smart card initiative, would move government closer to the people.

He said that the introduction and distribution of the cards would go a long way to assist the government in the collation of residents’ data for appropriate allocation of resources and implementation of pro-masses policies.

“It will serve as a remarkable socio-economic drive, as it will in no doubt provide government accurate information on the population of the people residing in the state as well as their needs,” he stated.

He said about 230,322 pupils from public elementary schools have been captured in the first phase, which was completed in 2014, while the registration of students in middle and high schools have commenced.

He added that more than 409,664 adults had been enrolled and their validation was in progress.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Commissioner for Education, Wasiu Kolawole Omotunde-Young, described the commissioning of high school as another milestone in government’s efforts to lay a solid and enduring foundation for ‘Functional Education’ in the state.