Aregbesola raises panel to tackle pupils’ mass failure

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has set up a nine-man committee headed by the acting Vice-Chancellor of Bola Ige University, Prof. Jelil Oguntola, to find solutions to the state’s public schools’ poor showing in national examinations.

Aregbesola

Aregbesola, in a statement by his spokesman, Semiu Okanlawon, on Sunday, said the committee would also verify   the implementation of the reforms initiated by his administration in the four state-owned tertiary institutions.

The state owns polytechnics at Iree and Esa Oke as well as colleges of education in Ilesa and Ila Orangun.

Aregbesola said, “It is the desire of the government to put a stop to secondary school pupils’ yearly poor performances in external examinations. Time is ripe for something to be done urgently to ensure that the performances of pupils reflect the heavy investment in education by the government.

“The realisation of the poor performance of our pupils over a decade compelled us to ask the tertiary institutions to offer remedial courses for more of our students to be ‘matriculable’.

“The committee is therefore to verify the progress on the implementation of all the reforms we have initiated in the four institutions in focus.”

The governor also directed the committee to carry out staff verification in the four institutions to be sure that the available resources to the schools were being judiciously used.

He also directed the committee, which has two weeks to complete its work, to review the institutions’ curriculums.

He added that his administration wanted to be sure that the institutions were properly set up for the kind of education the Nigerian society needed for growth.

Oguntola said the students, their parents and guardians should be encouraged to stop cheating in examinations.

He said, “This committee will do all in its capacity to make sure government policies and projects are better implemented.

“On the need to give vocational training, we will ensure that the institutions train people to be self-reliant in basic skills they need to function in the society. If this can’t be done, it means we have failed as institutions.”

Aregbesola raises panel to tackle pupils’ mass failure

Ige’s murder case can be reopened – IG

Fourteen years after the gruesome murder of a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige (SAN), the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, on Monday, said the case could be reopened.

Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase

Solomon, who spoke on Monday during a programme, “View from the top,” on Channels Television, said that the investigation into the murder failed because it was not based on proper intelligence.

It will be recalled that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State and a former Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Chief Iyiola Omisore, the immediate past Minister of Police Affairs, Mr. Jelili Adesiyan, and the current National Secretary of the PDP, Prof. Wale Oladipo, were arrested and charged for the murder.

They were, however, discharged by the courts after a series of trials.

Arase, who was a member of the special homicide unit that investigated the case, said the investigation was also marred by the political atmosphere at the time.

Arase said the suspects were made to undergo lie detector tests.

He said, “Some people were charged to court but just as I said before, our investigation was not intelligence-led. So, we tended to situate it within the political complexion of Osun State at that time. And you will also remember that there were a lot of distractions when that investigation started.

“So, it looked as if the attention of the police was diverted from the original cause of the event. I remember we also brought in the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and we wanted to ascertain if the people that we had in custody were the real people.

“So, we administered the polygraph examination but it did not work out. The polygraph test showed that they were not the perpetrators. The scientific aid we were trying to get was not in tandem with the circumstantial evidence that we had gathered. And when you have such issues, the suspect is given the benefit of the doubt. So, they walked away.”

Arase, who was also the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Intelligence before he was promoted last month, said the case had not been closed.

The police boss said if new evidence emerged, the case would be revived.

He said, “Murder cases don’t have statutes of limitation. Cases can always be reopened as it is done in other countries. Once there is fresh evidence to suggest that the probability of involvement or the criminal responsibility of one of the suspects in that matter is higher, it can always be reopened. You hardly close a criminal investigation that way.”

Arase said it was his plan to implement police reforms and also increase the standard of living of junior police officers.

The police boss urged his men to be more professional and continue to operate on the assumption that suspects are innocent until allegations against them were proven otherwise. He, therefore, ordered his men to stop the habit of arresting suspects before gathering evidence.

He said for things to improve in the police, the best university graduates must also join the security agency.

He said, “We must ensure that those who are brought into the force are intelligent enough and can be easily trained. When your manpower is wrong ab initio, you get everything wrong. So, we have to look at our recruitment policy. We should be able to attract the best people into the force.”

Ige’s murder case can be reopened – IG