In Ekiti State, a tale of neglect and squandered opportunity unfolds within the government-founded enterprise agency, visibly manifested in abandoned poultry farms, decrepit industrial equipment, and decaying food processing plants. With millions of Naira misspent and dreams left unfulfilled, communities and schools lose the promise of enhanced industrialisation.
The 2020 audit report of Ekiti State has exposed the gross failure of the Ekiti State Schools’ Agriculture and Enterprises Agency, as many of the projects initiated under it are in shambles. Created under the administration of Segun Oni, a former governor of the state, the agency was to help its students acquire industrial skills whilst reeling in revenue for the government.
In 2017, after an inspection tour of the projects between June 20 and 23, a team of auditors from the Ekiti Auditor General’s office found that most of the projects executed in select boarding schools in the state hardly met their purpose.
In February, this reporter visited five of these projects to ascertain their current status, as detailed below:
Part 1 – Government College Oye-Ekiti Poultry
Teachers were seen preparing their curriculum for the resumption of lessons following a mid-term break. Among a group of teachers seated under a canopy was Mr Adebayo Philip, a senior staff member.
“The poultry was once operated by someone who leased the facility, but since he left, nothing has happened,” he said of the government-sponsored poultry.
The audit report stated that the school managed the Oye poultry well, although the reality didn’t match the glowing remarks. On a tour of the poultry, this reporter found a dilapidated poultry. Where chickens should be incubating, grasses grew wildly from beneath a shattered ceiling.
“Oye Poultry was leased to Blue Pond Farms in August 2012 and terminated in 2016 at N360,000.00 per year. He (the former poultry farmer) left in 2015 and paid only N100,000.00 in May 2014, leaving a balance of N980,000.00,” the audit report read.
Although registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on May 25, 2009, Blue Pond Farms is now marked INACTIVE on the CAC website. The CAC declares a company ‘INACTIVE’ if they do not keep their annual returns up to date on the CAC portal.
Part 2: Methodist Girl’s Ifaki Nylon-Processing Company
The audit report states, “Nylon processing machines were supplied to the site by Astec Nig. Ltd. at a cost of N2,500,000.00. The equipment was left in the rain outside the factory site, un-installed since 2008 though full payments had been made to the Engineer/Contractor.”
The facility couldn’t be found within the premises of the Methodist Girls School upon inspection. However, the school’s security guard, who identified himself as Mr. Ade Olarinde, guided this reporter to the building, which stood in an annexe of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) which was separated from the Methodist school’s land property by a fence.
As Olarinde explained, the project was initiated during the Segun Oni administration. After the end of his tenure, it was expected that the following administration, led by Governor Fayemi, would take over the project. But the factory has remained neglected since then.
In addition to generating income for the state, the industrial plant was intended to benefit the immediate community of Ifaki.
“Inside the building, there are several ‘rotten’ machines, meant for production of different nylons. I could clearly remember that there was a standby generator and other sophisticated machines that were brought here, but sixteen years later, it is still decaying there,” Olarinde described the facility in the Yoruba dialect.
A man who appeared to be a spiritualist, followed closely by a naked man, appeared around the corner of the abandoned building.
“The girl’s school owns it, but it has been abandoned. The machines are already wasted,” he said, reacting to the reporter’s assessment of the building.
Under a leafless tree lay an array of corroded machines intended to produce polythene bags piled in the yard, adjacent to the building. Despite remaining untouched by production, the factory building appears dilapidated, against a background of peeling paint and cracking walls.
A check of Astec Nigeria Limited on the CAC portal, NG-Check.com, and Nigeria24 in April did not provide any results.
Part 3: Ijanmodu Comprehensive High School – Cassava Processing Company
According to the Audit report, “The Processing Machines were supplied and installed by Techo Quip Ltd at N6,400,000.00 in 2008. The equipment was poorly installed, and the ‘Blower’ got blown off
during test-running. The Contractor has not bothered to fix the blower ever since, even though
full payments have been made.”
Like others, Ijanmodu’s cassava processing company was built to complement the school’s efforts in providing food and employment opportunities to the residents. However, according to the school’s teachers, the multi-million naira production machines have never worked.
Further review of the audit report showed that the project has been abandoned since it was commissioned in 2008.
Alao David, a teacher at the senior secondary school, recounted brief periods of manual operation before the factory ground to a halt, leaving hopes dashed. “The engines didn’t work at all, but, manually, we worked for a while in the factory. The manual processing time was only for a few months. We had a collaboration with the indigenes who worked on the cassava,” he said.
For months, the school indulged the indigenes, who could produce cassava flakes traditionally, using firewood to fry the ground cassava into consumable Garri. The community and school anticipated the full operation of the processing machines, but eventually, the factory shut down after months of manual operation.
Alao mentioned that the factory was doomed to fail because the ‘Blower’ was not installed properly. One of the security guards who witnessed the machine’s test run corroborated the audit report. He narrated how the blower stopped working after producing a deafening sound when the contractor’s team was trying to assemble and prepare it for the production course.
In his account, the contractor has never looked back to repair or fix whatever was damaged since then, causing the project to never yield the purpose for which it was created. The school’s vice principal buttressed that, for the project to work, the equipment must be replaced as it was already obsolete.
In March, a review of the contracted company, Techo Quip Ltd., on NG-Check.com revealed that it was incorporated in 1991, in Ikotun, Lagos. Search results from the CAC labelled the company as struck-off, a term used to describe the procedure of delisting a company’s name from the register maintained by the Registrar of Companies (ROC). This action results in the company losing its legal recognition as a distinct entity and effectively ceasing to exist.
However, the company had a phone number listed on its Facebook page. In a telephone conversation on a call to the displayed phone number, a man told this reporter, “I don’t know. There has never been a report concerning that. Is there a report like that? Before it was approved and our balance was paid, it must have been installed.”
He recalled how the project was implemented over a decade ago, but that he was sure of the perfection of the operation before receiving full payment, in contrast with the audit report which confirmed full payment despite the imperfection.
Truecaller confirmed the identity of the speaker as Oyekanmi Fajimi, who is the General Manager of the company. His LinkedIn profile also confirmed this.
Part 4: Government Science College, Iyin-Ekiti – Palm Kernel Oil
A similar fate befalls two factories in Iyin-Ekiti. The Audit report states that “The Machine supplied to the site by Techo Quip Ltd at the cost of N2,717,550.00 is a sub-standard one. It was no longer working at the time of the auditor’s visit to the site. A pointer to this was the case of an award of printing of 74,100.00 copies of exercise books given to the printing press by SEPIP at a cost of N5,928,000.00, which was in turn contracted out to SUNDAY AJIKE PRINTING CO., Ilorin/Lokoja due to inability of the Printing Press to handle the job. It was also evident that the School could not maintain the site.”
In reaction to this development around the non-functionality of the printing press, Oyekanmi of Techno Quip LTD said, “That is not our problem if it is not working. We tested it. Every machine that we installed, we tested it and knew that production was going on before we left it. So if they have abandoned it, it is not our issue.”
Likewise, a palm kernel oil factory that was set up in the Government Science College of Iyin was found to be overgrown with weeds, its wooden doors eaten by termites, and its windows creaky.
A school staff member, who pleaded anonymity for fear of persecution, said that the project had never been used despite being completed over a decade ago. He pointed fingers at previous administrations for their negligence. “Since Segun Oni left, it has never worked before. I was transferred here shortly after the project was completed, and no one has come to commence operations here,” he lamented.
Part 5: Government Science College, Ayede Bakery
In the audit report, 3 bakeries were functioning, though operating below optimal levels in Ado, Ayede and Ikere, under the supervision of the Agency’s appointed Enterprise Officers, who remitted an agreed amount in monthly returns to it. In Ayede, the bakery paints a picture of mismanagement and economic hardship. What was once an enterprise now stands desolate, its ovens cold and its shelves bare. Despite attempts to keep it afloat, financial constraints and bureaucratic hurdles proved insurmountable, leading to its eventual demise.
“Though there were no returns from Ayede Bakery for the year 2015, the sum of N30,000.00 was realized by the baker in 2016. Audit findings revealed that the school management did not know anything about the affairs of the bakery, and no enterprise officer showed up during the inspection exercise. Further investigations revealed that one Mr. Eweje (DERBYFOL BAKER) of No. 1A, Ajenikoko Close, Oke-Ureje, off Poly Road, Ado-Ekiti has been operating the bakery since January 2015 without any lease agreement,” the audit report read.
The Ayede Bakery was strewn with cobwebs.
One of the secondary school teachers confirmed that an individual formerly operated the bakery. He wouldn’t disclose the name of the individual, though. However, he noted that the individual left because he could not meet the monthly remittance expectations.
“The school also managed it for some time, because of the economy, they stopped as they were expected to also remit the fees like individuals who leased.”
While the agency handling the project was created to facilitate Ekiti’s macro-economy, “since the owner of the vision, Oni, left, the project has been forgotten because of the continuity issue,” said another teacher.
Both teachers expressed their dismay over the meagre profits that were accrued from the business while still needing to remit a certain amount of money.
When this reporter pressed for more information on the individuals in charge of the project before its eventual closure, he insisted that “civil servants can only be seen and not heard.”
The Sorry Tale of Ekiti Residents
In 2022, it was reported that according to labour force statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Ekiti State has the highest unemployment rate in the South-West region, with a staggering 52.91% of its population unemployed. Despite possessing a huge capacity to bridge this gap, the full functionality of the enterprise agency was not tried.
Vincent Babalola, a resident of Iyin-Ekiti, shared his perspective on the situation. He recalled the inception of a palm oil factory in Iyin school and had high hopes of gaining employment there due to his experience in the palm oil business. However, the factory never reached full operational capacity, leaving him to rely on occasional palm oil-making contracts to support himself and his family.
“If it were functioning, my friends and I would be earning salaries from there.
“We could even be producing the palm oil needed for this state because it is cleaner and more refined than the local one,” Vincent lamented. He further explained that it is not too late for the current government to revive the project, thus preventing public funds from becoming a total waste.
Similarly, Adara Priscilla, a graduate of Methodist High School, expressed her disappointment over the non-operational Nylon Processing company that was supposed to be functional during her secondary school years. “We are in the era of skills. Young people like myself should not be deprived of opportunities like this,” Priscilla stated.
According to Adara, the potential benefits of learning agricultural processing skills could spur the creation of more industries in Ekiti. For a state often dubbed a ‘civil service state’ with an almost nonexistent industrial base, the importance of such projects cannot be overstated.
Is the Agency Still in Existence?
Amid the ruins, questions loom over the fate of the agency tasked with overseeing these projects. Once touted as a beacon of hope for Ekiti’s college students, it now languishes in obscurity.
On the Ekiti state website, the agency went by another name, ‘The Schools Enterprise and Wealth Creation Agency’, and a notice stated that it was currently in the process of securing a loan amounting to N66 million in February 2012.
As stated on the website, the funding was earmarked to support various projects across selected schools within the state. “The Board Secretary, Mr. S. B. Olaoye, who made this known in Ado Ekiti, said the loan would be to finance the nylon-packaging plant at Ifaki Methodist Girls College; the cassava-processing factory at Ijanmodu Comprehensive High School; the palm kernel oil plant at Government Science College, Iyin Ekiti; the feed mill at Government College, Ado-Ekiti; and the paper mill at Eyemote Comprehensive High School, Iyin Ekiti.
The Board Secretary stated further that the Agency aims to ensure that youths in the schools acquire vocational skills alongside academic knowledge. He concluded by commending the State Government for its support in all its bid to make all its projects successful.”
However, the projects that were expected to be executed with loan funding are in shambles, under the aforementioned realities.
A top official of the Ekiti State government, who pleaded anonymity, hinted that the agency has become unpopular in the media because of its years of inactivity.
According to her, neglect and lack of maintenance from succeeding administrations since Oni, have led to the deterioration of essential infrastructure and machinery within the agency. She added that the agency was also crippled by a lack of substantial funding. “But if something drastic is done about the project, they could still revive the agency,” she said.
The desk officer in charge of the agency was contacted. The first call was made to the desk officer, whom Truecaller identified as Bamigbe Ajayi.
“I will not be able to entertain any questions. If you need anything, come to the office. I can help you if you send the questions to my WhatsApp, ” he said. Another call was made after days of unanswered WhatsApp messages. “See, I am very busy,” he shouted, evading further inquiries.
Eventually, he demanded an official request for the questions but still fumed when the FOI was mentioned.
Following the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a request was submitted seeking information from the Executive Secretary of the agency, as the last resort.
The FOI request was sent and delivered in person at the agency’s office in Ekiti state Secretariat on April 12, 2024. The request sought details of the agency, the abandonment of multiple projects, as well as the implementation of the Auditor’s recommendations on reviving the agency.
Despite Bamigbe mentioning the Executive Secretary as the recipient of the FOI, the response was to direct the questions to the Ministry of Education and Commissioner of Education. Several calls and messages made to the Commissioner, Olabimpe Aderiye, were not answered as of the time of filing in this report.
Several recommendations to resuscitate the agency were stated in the audit report, however, no evidence of its implementation was found as of the time of filing this report.
This report was produced under the Public Audit Media Fellowship of Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI)