The Publisher of The Policy and Lawmakers Magazine, Prince Bolarin Friday Ogungbemi, has accused the Kogi State Government of failing to make education affordable and accessible, citing acute teacher shortages, what he described as contradictory education policies, and inadequate support for public schools.
Addressing journalists in Lokoja on Tuesday, Ogungbemi urged Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo to urgently review the state’s education policies, lift the employment embargo and recruit thousands of teachers to rescue what he described as a worsening crisis in public schools.
He alleged that Kogi had not conducted any major recruitment of teachers in almost a decade despite mounting vacancies caused by retirements, deaths and resignations.
According to him, the shortage of teachers has severely undermined teaching and learning across the state’s public secondary schools.
He claimed that the Kogi State Science, Technical Education and Teaching Service Commission had identified a need for about 9,979 additional teachers in 2022, but only 1,108 were eventually recruited out of the 3,979 positions approved by the immediate past administration of former Governor Yahaya Bello.
Ogungbemi further alleged that about 200 of those recruited later resigned because of poor conditions of service, leaving the state’s schools with an even wider manpower deficit.
He appealed to Governor Ododo to recruit the remaining 2,871 teachers earlier approved while also addressing what he estimated to be a shortage of nearly 10,000 teachers across the education sector.
The publisher also painted a grim picture of primary education in the state, claiming that several public primary schools were operating with little or no teaching staff because no recruitment had taken place since 2014.
According to him, the proliferation of private schools has become the only reason the state’s basic education system has not completely collapsed.
Ogungbemi also criticised the state government’s handling of the recent abduction of candidates, a principal and a NECO official at Government Secondary School, Olowa, Dekina Local Government Area, during the 2026 Senior School Certificate Examination.
He faulted the government’s description of the school as a “miracle centre,” arguing that the claim was contradicted by the National Examinations Council (NECO), which publicly confirmed that the school is a recognised public institution that has presented candidates for its examinations since 2000.
According to him, NECO’s clarification exposed inconsistencies in the state’s position and showed that the abducted candidates were duly registered students of a government-owned school.
Ogungbemi further criticised the government’s continued enforcement of a ban on graduation ceremonies for Nursery, Primary Six and Junior Secondary School pupils, describing the policy as unfair to private schools.
He argued that while the government insists the ban is aimed at protecting parents from unnecessary financial burdens, private schools are still compelled to register students for several government-mandated examinations and assessments at the expense of parents.
He questioned why private school students were excluded from education interventions enjoyed by their counterparts in public schools despite contributing significantly to the state’s education sector.
The publisher called on Governor Ododo to urgently revisit the state’s education policies, recruit qualified teachers, strengthen public schools and adopt reforms that would improve access to quality and affordable education for all children in Kogi State.
The Kogi State Government had yet to respond to the latest allegations as of the time of filing this report.