During the administration of Rauf Aregbesola in Osun State, the government awarded the construction of 3000-student capacity steel schools, one each in Ilesa, Osogbo and Iwo, to Slava Yeditepe Projects Limited.

When completed, former President Muhammadu Buhari jetted to the state on September 1, 2016, to commission the one in Osogbo, named Osogbo Government High School. The second one built in Ilesa also came to fruition before Aregbesola’s tenure as governor ended in 2018. However, that of Iwo remains a spectacle, sitting comfortably on a bushy 10,000 square metres of land on the premises of Iwo Grammar School, along Araromi road in the town.

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2 BILION NAIRA WASTING AWAY

Like the two completed structures in Osogbo and Ilesa, the massive uncompleted school, made of prefabricated light gauge steels, in Iwo has 72 classrooms and a large hall.

Other features of the school are utility storage, office spaces, storage for documents, eight restrooms (four each for males and females), sporting facilities, a borehole, standalone transformer and firefighting devices.

According to the delivery timeline, the contractor was expected to complete the construction in May 2017. But that never happened. The administration of Adegboyega Oyetola, the governor who succeeded Aregbesola, appeared to have also dragged its feet on the project, as no visible move was made to make the facility usable.

During a visit to the facility in Iwo on July 22, FIJ found that the school had become a viable ground for reptiles and other animals. Finding a route to the building was challenging, as it had been fenced out by overgrown weeds.

Our findings showed the project was funded from an N11.4 billion Sukuk bond, an Islamic financial instrument the former governor issued in 2013.

At a time one dollar was N197, the project was awarded for $10,500,000 to the contractor with a delivery time of 24 months. When converted accordingly, the project funding was N2,068,500,000.

FIJ found that some windows and asbestos had started falling off. Six years on, the two-storey structure has been left to the mercy of offending vegetation while its beauty and characteristics fade away.

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We shared our findings with Dipo Eluwole, Osun Commissioner for Education, on Friday, seeking to know what plan the current government had towards making the facility functional.

“The government will organise an education summit very soon to appraise the whole situation. Our appraisal will be comprehensive. Stakeholders’ deliberations at the summit will shape our next line of action about all the abandoned and functional educational facilities in the state,” Eluwode said.