Dangote Defies Abiodun, Demolish Primary School Without Ogun State Consent

The Ogun State government has expressed dissatisfaction with Dangote Cement for reportedly demolishing a primary school in the state without informing any of the state government agencies.

Elefon Primary School, in Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state, was demolished for standing within the mining area of the company.

A member of the state House of Assembly, representing Ewekoro state constituency, Yusuf Amosun, who was agitated over the development, addressed the issue on Tuesday at the plenary.

The lawmaker insisted that the company demolished the school without informing any government agency under the guise that the school was within their newly acquired mining jurisdiction.

Upon this complaint, Speaker of the Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, condemned the demolition of the school.

The House leader has now constituted an ad-hoc Committee to be chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Bolanle Ajayi, with Seun Adesanya, Lukmon Atobatele and Sunday Wasiu, as members, to engage all concerned parties on the matter and report to the Assembly.

When Daily Post contacted the Commissioner for Education, Abayomi Arigbabu, he confirmed the development, saying the company had obstructed the school premises some time back but the government quickly waded in.

The Commissioner discloses that Governor Dapo Abiodun had insisted that the company “must not do anything within the school premises” but expressed surprise that the company has gone ahead to demolish the same school despite his earlier warning.

When asked if he was aware that the company had a licence to mine in and around the school, Arigbabu said the government was not aware of such a licence.

He said: “The government owns the school and that was why we stopped them when we heard of it initially.”