OPENING THE PANDORA BOX IN EDO

Gov. Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole
By Ernest Omoarelojie

Beyond the criticisms of political opponents, every discerning observer of the development agenda of the current government in Edo State will attest to theistration’s inability to summon the political will necessary to eliminate every identified obstacle that could possibly clog the sector’s progress wheel.

Beyond the criticisms of political opponents, every discerning observer of the development agenda of the current government in Edo State will attest to the very verifiable impact the Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole administration has wrought on the state’s socio-political landscape. In particular, none would hesitate to agree that the much that has been done in the education sector must be consolidated in order that gains already achieved would not go down the drain due to the administration’s inability to summon the political will necessary to eliminate every identified obstacle that could possibly clog the sector’s progress wheel.

The reason for the position may not be unconnected with the not-too-impressive performance of pupils and students in public schools. For many, the real problem can no longer be ascribed to poor infrastructure, given the laudable efforts of the Oshiomhole administration to rebuild and remodel dilapidated school structures in across the 18 local government areas of the state.

That obviously explains why virtually everyone is of the opinion that now is the time to conduct teachers’ audit as canvassed by the state governor in the recent town hall meeting held with stakeholders in order to ascertain the quality of those given the responsibility of impacting knowledge on the state’s future leaders.
If findings so far unearthed at the early stages of the qualification verification exercise is anything to go by, the sector’s pandora box appears to have been flung open culminating in what Comrade Patrick Ikosimi, chairman of the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, described as “an embarrassment”.

The revelation came to light when the state governor paid an unscheduled visit to the state Staff Training Centre, venue of the exercise. Before an obviously stunned governor and the union boss, Mrs. Augusta Odemwingie, a primary school teacher for the past twenty years, in Asologun Primary School in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of the state could not read the affidavit she deposed to in support of the credentials she submitted for verification. The development goes a long way into proving the position of the government that age and other forms of falsification are rampant in the sector, a fact for which it stated that those found to have falsified their records will be sanctioned. In particular, the government made it clear that those found to have found their way into teaching either by bribing their way or other forms of falsifications will be filtered out. Emphatically, those found to have attained the mandatory retirement age will be retired immediately while younger ones who have discrepancies in their certificates will be given the opportunity to update their credentials and later re-absorbed into the system. However, the governor made it abundantly clear that something must give to secure the future of school children in the state.

Closely examined, the verification exercise is a win-win situation for the NUT. For instance, not a few observers are convinced that teachers are mostly responsible for the dwindling fortunes of academic activities in the state. Now that the exercise that is geared towards sanitizing the school system is in progress, the end result will no doubt create room for the employment of better qualified teachers while at the same time increasing the burden of the state government as the number of its retirees will increase. On the long run, the teachers will also get a share of the plaudits that will follow the expected improvement in the standard of education in the state.

Before the commencement of the verification exercise, a lot of excuses and blackmail were made by those opposed to it, particularly the teachers, in order to put a stop to it. In the main, their objection was hinged on the assumption that it was an exercise calculated to victimize the teachers over their recent face-off with the state government on matters relating to non-implementation of their consolidated allowances. By way of buttressing their position, the teachers argued that if that was not the case, the state government ought to have extended the same measure to other sectors of its public workforce particularly as they are more or less as rotten as the education sector.

Concertedly, the state government has attempted to douse the teachers’ “victimization” theory by reminding them that their role in building a dream education sector is too important to be left in the hands of quacks. Indeed, the government exercised no hesitation in reminding them that a teacher must be qualified in all manner imaginable, and that an unqualified teacher is like a baker who can poison a whole community if he puts a little poison in the dough.

In addition to the argument, the state government also reminded them that even before teachers’ audit was mutted, a similar exercise was already in progress as state employees recruited under the Rapid Response Agency, were undergoing a biometric verification exercise aimed at sorting out certain irregularities. However, the teachers refused to budge. As it appears, their position is like a pebble on a rubber sling. Overstretched, it can snap, fly right back and sting the holder.

The wisdom here is until the scandalous revelations involving Mrs. Odemwigie, a number of observers were beginning to give a more serious consideration to the teachers’ victimization theory. Many indeed were convinced that coming on the heels of a prolonged dispute from which the state government received flak for not responding quickly to the teachers’ demands, the audit is in bad faith.

At the moment however, rather than hidden motives as canvassed by the teachers, observers are convinced that the state government ought to have started the verification exercise long before now. The real question now is this-who is afraid of teachers’ audit?

Arising from the question above, many are now convinced that Mrs. Odemwigie may not be the last source of academic embarrassment to the state’s education sector as more are likely to be uncovered in droves. For that possibility, those who initially harboured the idea that the teachers may be right in accusing the state government of a hidden agenda in setting up the audit-cum-verification exercise are now certain that the teachers themselves only wanted to hoodwink the public with the accusation, hoping to stall the process knowing full well that if allowed to progress, the exercise would uncover the falsehood most of them deliberately put up with for so long. Now that the exercise has commenced, instantly opening a pandora’s box, one thing is certain. The exercise, more like the proverbial stitch in time, is a right step in the right direction. The urgency is better captured in the words of Comrade Ikosimi. “We are committed to partnering with the government to reposition Education in the state. What this teacher has just displayed is a show of shame, it shows the decadence in the education sector. I have written to the governor that we are in total support of what he is doing. He should properly involve the NUT so that together we can fish out the culprits who are not viable as far as the system is concerned.”
Ernest Omoarelojie writes from Benin City