When late Morenike Arulogun was enrolled in Faith Academy, Ota, Ogun State in August 2008, her parents, like thousands of other parents, never suspected that the school where their daughter fell ill, and ultimately died, was operating an illegal boarding house.
A NEXT investigation has revealed that the school at the centre of the controversy was operating illegally as a hostel. Faith Academy did not have a license to run a boarding house as required by law.
As revealed by evidence before the Federal High Court in Abeokuta where her father, Toye Arulogun, sued the school and 16 other defendants, Faith Academy had failed to register its hostels with the Ogun State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
A letter from the ministry to Faith Academy, dated 13 October 2009, disclosed that the Zonal Education Officer, Jide Busari, had repeatedly met the school's principal, Oluyinka Oluwadare, to discuss the school's inability to register its hostel. Mr. Busari said the principal's "deliberate silence on the issue" was viewed "as a disregard to the authority" of the ministry.
"You are therefore requested in the interest of the school to comment on the reason why you deliberately refused to legalise the operation of the school hostel despite that it was stated in paragraph three of the approval letter you signed for," Mr Busari wrote.
In a response letter dated 19th Oct. 2009, Mrs. Oluwadare, through her counsel, Ogochukwu Mbamalu of Jumbo Chambers, accused Mr. Busari of contempt of court for seeking to know why Faith Academy refused to register its hostels.
"It is needful that you do seek legal opinion from the Ministry of Justice, Ogun State before you further commit contempt of court which contempt you have already incurred by your actions," Mr. Mbamalu said.
Faith without works
Records from the Ogun State ministry of education show the school's proprietors were given official approval to run only the school in January 2001, despite the school already being in operation since the 25th of October 1999.
In the letter of confirmation of provisional approval for Faith Academy, the ministry acknowledged N100,000 as registration payment for the establishment of the school. "In addition of this, you should note that if the school operates a boarding house, the hostel will have to be registered separately with the state government. Information about this could be obtained from your Zonal Education officer or the department," read paragraph three of the letter dated 31 January 2001.
But a source in the ministry said Faith Academy, which is owned by Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners Chapel), decided to operate an illegal boarding house by purposely refusing to disclose to the ministry its intention to run a hostel. It was explained that a school and a hostel are two different entities which have to be cited and registered separately with the ministry.
"When they invited us for the registration of the school, they didn't say they were going to operate a hostel. They showed us this is where they want their school to exist. And the location where the school is accommodates so many buildings. But it is not bestowed on us to poke nose into other buildings you have not pointed to. Since they didn't tell us this is a hostel we never knew it was a hostel," the ministry official said.
The shutdown
The source said it was as a result of the law suit instituted by Mr. Arulogun, in which the ministry and its commissioner are being joined as defendants, that the ministry in seeking to protect its interest, asked Faith Academy to provide documentary evidence of its hostel registration.
"I am to request for your responses and documentary evidence in support of the following: The Approval letter for the school hostel location, the provisional approval letter for the school, the confirmation approval letter for the school and any other information in respect of the school hostel," read the ministry's letter dated the 15th of Sept. 2009, which was personally received and acknowledged by Mrs. Oluwadare on the 24th of Sept 2009.
When NEXT asked Mr. Busari what the implication was of a school's hostel not being registered, he answered that the ministry has the powers to shut down such a facility.
"We will encourage the school to register its hostel, but if they remain adamant, then we have no choice, we shut it down! Every institution has laid down rules and procedure. It's that simple," Mr. Busari said.
It would only have cost Faith Academy a maximum of N40,000 to have had its hostels, which can accommodate 2,400 students at a time, registered with the ministry of education.
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