Instructional Materials: Saraki disagrees with KWSG, says constituency project distribution facilitated by UBEC

Former senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki has said the Kwara State
Government misconceived the recent distribution of instructional
materials by his Mandate Office to public schools in Kwara central.
The state government had rejected the books based on the claim that
the materials were distributed directly to the schools from the
Mandate office of Saraki as opposed to going through the Ministry of
Education.
The state also added that personal identities of the former senate
president were emblazoned on them, stressing that it was not aware of
the distribution of these instructional materials.
But Saraki countered that the state government has misconceptions
about the true picture of the processes involved in capturing and
implementation of projects of such nature.
Reacting, the Director of Project and Empowerment, Mandate Office of
Senator Saraki,Otukoko Olayinka Ibrahim said that, “the distribution
of the instructional materials is a constituency project facilitated
by the immediate past senate president Bukola Saraki through the
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
“The constituency projects with UBEC is not limited to distribution of
books, it include: Construction of classrooms, provision of Pupils and
Teachers furniture, distribution of customized notebooks and textbooks
(as it appears in the UBEC documents). distribution of Science
Laboratory equipments, distribution of Mathematics kits, distribution
of computer systems and generator sets.
“During the needs assessment conducted by the mandate office, the
office of Dr. Saraki collaborated with the LGEA offices which are
directly in charge of basic schools across the four LGs for capturing
of schools with basic infrastructure and material needs and same was
communicated to UBEC by Dr. Saraki’s office for implementation.
“Prior to distribution of the items, the mandate office informed the
LGAs offices again to invite the selected schools, as shortlisted by
UBEC to mandate for collection of “approved” items for their
respective schools. So to say the State Government is not aware of the
distribution is will throw many unanswerable questions to one’s mind.”
The statement noted that the standard of materials distributed are of
the Universal Basic Education standards across the country, published
by the Federal Government approved publishers.
” So for ministry to say the items are “substandard” and need vetting
would mean that the ministry is not aware of these processes undergone
by the UBEC already or that the Ministry decided not to know to allow
it dance to the tune dictated by the payer of the piper.
“On the emblazoned pictures on the instructional materials, it is to
be noted that no picture was emblazoned by Senator Saraki or his
mandate office on the distributed items. It is a standard used by MDAs
for some projects of both the Executives and the Legislators,
especially when it has to do with training equipments and material
supplies. The pictures below show clear evidence of SDG project for
PMB and UBEC project for ABS. If the state government has any unbiased
issue with this, it is advisable that she communicates the UBEC and
other MDAs involved on the need to change the approach. ”
The statement further said that the state government has no
substantial position to reject the items on a mere guess that Senator
Saraki emboldened picture on the items without a deep consideration of
the values this will add to the lives of the pupils and this is
perceived by the masses as venting of unnecessary split on a perceived
political rival which is unhealthy for our overall developments as a
people.