In January 2004, four years after his service in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Taiwo Busola was employed at the Osun State Ministry of Education to work as an education officer in the Planning, Research and Statistics Department.

Before resumption of office as the desk officer in charge of furniture distribution to schools in the state, Busola was sent to the Unity School Osogbo (one of the demonstration schools where officers gained practical knowledge) for three years, teaching and learning how the school system works.

“My principal and vice principal organized training for me,” he says. “As an education officer, I was a local inspector of education, and to be able to inspect, I needed to have the experience of what to look out for in schools like their records and lesson notes.”  

Reforming an age-old system

In 2020, he was appointed the Officer-in-Charge of the Book Review Desk/Schedule in the Curriculum Development Department. Before then, Busola worked in several desks, including the Bursary, Planning, Research and Statistics, and the Radio and TV Programmes Desk which was responsible for preparing teaching demonstrations.

“But the Book Review Desk was the most challenging for me,” he says. “I was responsible for checking the quality of texts and novels to be used across examination classes in the state.”

Before he took charge of the desk, there was an existing policy that Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) students used a single book for three years in their Basic Certification Examination. This policy meant that only one author’s work was used for that entire period.

Busola wanted to change this to one year because he strongly felt that other authors needed to be empowered. In addition, “we also wanted to expose students to different stories and writing styles,” he explains.

He held discussions with his director who bought into the idea. Different authors from states across the country were invited to bring their books for review which lasted for two months. After this process, three books were selected to be used for three years.

“I made sure that the process of selection was transparent and based on the quality of the text,” he noted. “It was not easy because we had people, including authors, who wrote letters against the policy, but I was not willing to give up.”

He said that some authors offered money to influence the choice of what books students read, but he did not accept any of it. Today, the policy has become a model for other states apart from Osun, including Oyo, Kwara and Ekiti States.

Avoiding potential conflict 

In 2020, Busola was requested to review a Yoruba literature book by Timothy Oladiji, who was Speaker of the State House of Assembly at the time. The author of the book had met with Olajiji to help influence the book’s acceptance to be used by JSS 3 students.

After his review, Busola found that the book contained religious bias which he felt could potentially ignite strong feelings or even an uprising given the sensitivities around religion in Nigeria.

“I explained to the speaker and he understood my reasoning so we agreed to get another author,” he says. “I had to look beyond the author to the potential threat that the book poses because, with my approval, the author would have gone to schools in other states and convinced them to accept the book and ultimately I would have been held responsible for ill-advising the government.”

Humble yet committed to duty

Oyedele Ezekiel, who worked with Busola in the Planning, Research and Statistics Department at Osun State Ministry of Education between 2012-2016, saysBusola remains one of the few staff members that he holds in high esteem.

“All through the years that he worked as a Senior Education Officer in charge of furniture distribution to schools in the state, there was no single allegation against him or his work. He was transparent, always punctual and even worked on weekends just to ensure that everything was in place,” states Ezekiel who was the Principal Education Officer at the time.

Oyedele, who is currently the Director in charge of the Senior Secondary School Education Board describesBusola as “an example for others to learn from because he is humble yet devoted to his duty.”

Adeliyi Abodunrin currently works with Busola as a subordinate at the Private School’s Department in the Ministry of Education. She says he is the perfect person to work with because he is committed to his job and always willing to lend a helping hand or guidance whenever he assigns duties. Abodunrin says she has worked with Busola for eight years and that he has consistently demonstrated good leadership.

“He is reliable, transparent and leads by example,” she says. “I can work with him with my two eyes closed because he is trustworthy, always tries to unite everyone working with him and treats everybody equally.”

Emerging as the top education officer

In 2022, through his hard work, Busola rose to the rank of Assistant Director at the  Ministry of Education, currently in charge of the Private Schools Department. 

In 2023, he emerged as the Chairman of the Forum of Education Officers in Osun State, a union responsible for overseeing the welfare of education officers and investigating allegations of misconduct. In this role, he has become the leading education officer in Osun State.

Oyedele says it was Busola’s outstanding leadership qualities that earned him the position.

“We felt he was the only one who could unite and fight for the welfare of education officers in the state,” he says. “Nobody else would have done it better.” “Loyalty, dedication to duty and integrity is what has brought Busola this far in the civil service.”

In 2014, Busola received a recognition certificate for adherence to civil service ethics.   He views this acknowledgement as a source of motivation, reinforcing his commitment to advancing integrity and accountability in the public sector.

This report is championed by Accountability Lab Nigeria and sponsored by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Luminate.