THE
ADVOCATE
23
May 2014
A'Ibom Assembly Leader calls for more investment in Education
T
he leader of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Okpolupm Etteh, has called on government, corporate bodies and individuals to invest more in education since “it is the pillar on which our development stands”. Etteh, who while speaking to reporters after the first session of the 20th Nigerian Economic Summit, said without education, a nation cannot grow. “We must invest in educations as government, corporate bodies and individuals. Education encourages growth. Education drives away ignorance and diseases. Even poverty is checked by education. So it is important we increase the vote for education in our budgets”. He went further to say “investment in education should
also be about training and retraining of teachers, provision of books, return of moral instructions to schools, cleaning of the environment where our
children learn; provision of feeding for our children. In short it should be holistic.” Etteh, who commended the Free Education Policy of A'Ibom State
Governor, said that the free tuition scheme had really helped to triple school enrolment, but that the challenges are in the area of quantity and quality of teachers;
economic empowerment of parents to support the children prevent them from child labour to help their families provide school materials.
ASUP strike:
Students set to stage a protest at the Confab venue
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he latest news update on ASUP Strike is that students are planning to stage a protest at the venue of the National Confab. Students have threatened to disrupt ongoing national confab in Abuja next week during the protest of months of closure of their schools due to lecturers strike. According to reports, hundreds of students “will mobilize” to join lecturers from polytechnics and
colleges of education, who have already planned in protest in Abuja next week. “We are supporting our lecturers because they are fighting for our own rights and those of all polytechnics in the country,” said Abdulmajeed Oyeniyi, spokesman for National Association of Polytechnic Students. Friday morning, bus loads of polytechnic students blocked
traffic at Federal Secretariat junction in central Abuja to protest their months of stay at home. They demanded the sack of education minister Nyesom Wike, insisting on placards that he was “weak” and “not competent.” They also called on federal government to meet their demands and targets. The protesters came from states across the country; Anambra, Adamawa, Kogi, Niger. Heavy police presence met the
protesters at federal secretariat to control their flow and movement, not to stop them. Only hundreds were mobilized for the protest in Central Abuja, but future planned protests could see larger numbers as protesters continue to reach out to fellow polytechnic students on social media. “We want to send information to people that are not here today. By next week Wednesday we are stopping the confab in Abuja again,” said Oyeniyi.
10 widows lament their plight Continued from page 22 donor to build a standard secondary school of which plans have reached advanced stage for the commencement of the construction. . So far a choice location has been made and Architectural plan concluded and work will commence later. (he promised to communicate where the choice location is) but continued by saying that the staff school should rally round and generate their own money because the Chief Jona Eze money they are looking at was the sole effort of the Rector . So, they should go all out and look for their own money. ''What we are even waiting for is to get more IGR to make up the N20 Million because we have a policy here against abandoned property. It would be a surprise to hear that anybody in the staff school would be talking down on the efforts of the Rector Prof Godwin Onu to transform the Institution's entire environment. He left the issue to blow the trumpet of the Rector, he described as performing, “It is on record that infrastructural wise the management of Federal Polytechnic Oko Polytechnic is constructing no fewer than 17 structures and none is less than 2 storey building and they are going on simultaneously. 6 structures have been completed and virtually all the structures in t h e c a m p u s w e r e comprehensively renovated. The landscaping and beautification which remained the watchword of the rector have turned the environment to a citadel of learning, an envy of other
infrastructure . And these attracted commendation from the senate committee Chairman on Education, Senator Chukwumerije during his over sight function in Oko. He said and I quote,'' that Federal Polytechnic Oko remains the fastest growing institution in the c o u n t r y. A p a r t f r o m infrastructure the Rector has done 5 kilometre of roads in Atani and Oko campuses. The Rector has magnanimously sponsored the training of not less than 250 staff of the Polytechnic with majority of them about 200 studying abroad under TETFUND project. ''The aim is for them to study and improve the environment and management of the infrastructure he is building. All these are geared towards our long agitation for change of status for a Federal University Technology. And at this point we do not think that distraction from the staff school is ideal. The Rector has received commendation from several quarters including the host community Oko for his wonderful performance. Reacting on the short changing of staff based on job vacancies they applied before coming to the institution, Obini said ''you talk of short change when you are scheduled and in scheme of service .....the Institution is the staff school of Federal Polytechnic , Oko but not covered by the pay scheme of the Polytechnic. The school is managed by one Dr Ubaka as I said earlier and Oko Polytechnic has nothing to do with the school but rather we spend N10 Million on yearly basis to remedy the
rickety condition of the school. They keep losing their staff and students because they are not teaching and have come to blame the Polytechnic. On salary differences, Obini said, '' How are they supposed to know what they are expected to be paid? There is no form of intimidation as they alleged. The only time Rector visited them was on inspection and they were taken unawares, but they were not in school. There environment is far from us. The problems at the school have been there before we come on board and they have been folding their hands waiting for Polytechnic to carry their burden but we don't have the money to throw about because we have our own challenges. ''At a time the ceilings were pulling off and the students kept complaining to me but I asked them to march to Aso Rock and show the Rector. They went and I was blackmailed for that. I was asked to come. When I came I was asked to deny sending the students but I maintained I sent them since I have met with the Rector, Prof Onu and he promised to marble the classrooms but I insisted it may not be necessary as what we needed is putting the structures in other by re-roofing them and giving us more space because there is congestion already until we got to the permanent site but up till today nothing has happened. '' Whenever it rains, the students are in trouble but what shall we do as every little thing attracts threats and harassment. My interest is that the school should be put in other because we are not
interested in the allegations that we are sabotaging the system. I didn't request for this job and there is nothing to die for it, they can take it but let them pay us all they owe us, from arrears to all the underpayments to us. ''This suppose to be the school with the highest population of students around here but it is not. The students pay N7, 500 for children of staff and N8,000 for children of Non staff. Our typing is done outsi4de because we are using manual type writers which are now unserviceable. Our population was 420 but now 282 because of environment and it is unbelievable that students here study outside the classroom, in the corridors and under the trees. There is no library, there is not even a text book is in the Library, no laboratory, no chemical in the labs but we are staff secondary school. Some staff of the school who have left out of frustration but are still agitating for their rights denied them included Ezeobele G.N ; Obiagwu E.U ; Apunike MA; Nwafor C.N ; Ezeilo Alice ; Nwajiaku L.I and Ejikeme P.N . Others are Aniekwe Ngozi ; Ejikeme P.N ; Okoli A.O and Ogbuagu. A visit to the Federal Ministry of Education to confirm from the Minister or Director of school services how it is obtainable was not fruitful but a staff in the Education minister's office who would not want to be named said it is unthinkable for such to be heard and demanded that the staff write the Minister for appropriate actions if the management did not reverse the ill trend and pay them all their arrears of salaries.
''They can't answer you such questions on phone and I can't answer you on phone too. Come to my office but it is unthinkable to do such and I don't believe the story but if the Presidency or the Minister hears about this all the people concerned even those already out of the system will be recalled to account for the embezzlement and misapplication of fund as well as human rights abuses thereto. How one could be employed with a particular grade point as advertised and for 13 years or more you under paid them and even owed them up to 19 months salary arrears. '' This is preposterous and man's inhumanity against man. It is unthinkable but be assured that the Minister even the EFCC, ICPC and Human Right Activists should have a copy of their protest letter , so that a presidential or ministerial panel of inquiry should be set up to investigate the claims. If it true, they would be paid all their arrears and have their promotions while those who perpetuated evil will be punished adequately. The Senate President and House of Representative Speaker should be copied too as they frown at such graft. Is it truly that federal Polytechnic Oko staff schools is Independent from the Federal Polytechnic Oko as an Institution? Is this not another form of modern day slavery in the year of Human Rights Activism as encapsulated by the United Nations General Assembly in declaration of Universal Human Rights? Can these staff be paid their entitlements?