… Allegations are fake, not real, no such scenario exists across Delta — Ossai
It is appalling that the “future leaders” of our dear State sit on bare floors to take lectures at the age of our development, the main opposition political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Delta State chapter, has opened the can of worms on the Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration.
A press statement by the APC Publicity Secretary (Caretaker), Sylvester Imonina, Esq., said the children in most riverine schools in Ndokwa east local government area live in a world of their own.
“To them, Government does not exist because year in year out, the condition of their Schools remain the same.
“A visit to Emiye and Emore Grammar Schools in Oleh, Ujevwu and Ovwian Secondary Schools in Udu LGA, Egburie, Ekwerigbe and Egware Primary Schools, Igbonine and Alaka Grammar Schools in Ozoro will convince any doubting Thomas’s of what the future of the State are passing through”.
APC lamented the insensitivity of the present administration in the state over the deplorable state of education and facilities in foundation levels across the State.
Hear him: “Unlike in the yesteryears that Goverment used to make new desks for Schools that do not have enough desks before resumption of new term, the present Okowa led-Government care less about the comfort of our future leaders! We posit that it is either some people in the corridor of power are misleading the Governor or the Governor do not have the interest of the common man at heart”.
The party expressed dismay that grants given to schools at the foundation stages to help them meet up with Basic necessities are allegedly denied schools under the Okowa government.
According to the release, “It is surprising to know that subventions for running of schools at the Basic and Secondary Schools’ levels have not been paid in the past six months! How do school administrators carry out their functions/assignments in such situations?
“The common man whose children attend public schools are made to pay through their noses because of the demands by Schools’ Headteachers and Principals who have cultivated the habit of shifting the responsibilities of Goverment to the poor parents!
“The lack of subventions to Headteachers and Principals by Goverment is now a recipe for corruption in public Schools. Who will save the poor parents!
“The purpose of creating different ministries to handle issues concerning our educational system is defeated. The Commissioners in charge of Basic and Secondary Education have failed in their responsibilities, and therefore, deserve to be fired.
“Delta APC is worried over the dwindling attention being given to education at those levels by PDP led-Government in the State. From available information at our disposal, learning at those levels have become stone age inclined due to inadequate learning facilities, including desks and teachers”.
While educating the PDP government on what is obtainable, Imonima said: “Good education is the bedrock of every society, hence a Goverment that is worth its onions must give serious attention to whatever makes learning meaningful at the Basic and Secondary Schools’ levels.
Delta APC challenged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to up his game if he wants a better future for our children, warming that “Those children being neglected today may be our sources of sorrow tomorrow; God forbid”, he added.
But in his reaction, the Commissioner in charge of Primary Education, Mr. Chika Ossai, in a telephone conversation with The Story, debunked the allegations, saying no such scenario exists in secondary schools not to mention the foundation classes across the State.
His words: “That place, they have six buildings of three and six classrooms. I can tell you categorically that more than six classrooms are not in use in that the same school. So, because of their campaign of calumny, I don’t know how they managed to gather some few students, went there and sat down in those unused classrooms for that publication.
“I am telling you that it is fake, it is not real, they just want to use it to rib themselves and not on the Okowa-led administration”, saying that the state governor separated education into different arms for proper discentralized supervision.
“A lot have been done in the education sector. I am not telling you because I want APC support in Delta State but I am telling the way it is in Delta State. What I am telling you now is that in the place, they are not lacking furniture, both the teachers and the students.
“I went there with the Secondary Education Commissioner and as I am talking with you, we are still distributing and at the ministry, we have over 4, 000 chairs that we are still distributing. We don’t have such scenario in Delta State at all”, Ossai noted.
