…Using Ministry of Education to Exploit the Masses
We read with utter shock and dejection some mind-boggling and anti-people policies and decisions taken by the Benue State government under the leadership of Governor Hyacinth Alia which we feel if not reversed, would destroy the education sector in the state.
Governor Alia who said he is a pro-masses governor is exploiting the same ordinary people of the state by approving exorbitant levies on students and their poor parents.
Prominent among the policies and corrupt decisions taken by the Alia-led administration are the move to conduct students’ census which shall cost each student N1,000 naira; N50,000 compulsory fee for the Governor’s portrait and that of the Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Dr. Frederick Ikyaan; payment of compulsory insurance fee of N3,000 per students and proposed 200% increment of fees in public schools across the state state.
This leaves us wondering what Govenor Alia intends to achieve by making life miserable for parents, students and heads of schools with such ungodly hike in school fees and unprecedented extortionate tendencies.
Take for instance, with a population of over two million students, Alia expects to rake in a huge sum of N2 billion through the unnecessary students’ census and a whopping N9 billion in the compulsory insurance policy/scheme.
Also, the portraits of the Governor and Education Commisioner alone are expected to attract over N300 million to the government if all the 5,000 schools in the state get the items at the exorbitant price of 50,000 naira. The 200% rise in school fees in Benue public schools will then be the final blow that will cause an unprecedented pain to parents and guardians and increase the number of out-of-school children to an alarming level.
Now, the questions are; what is the essence of students’ census and why should they pay for the exercise? To what extent would extorting 3,000 naira from students in the name of compulsory insurance help them at the critical time? Why would the Benue State government want to increase the school fees beyond the reach of parents at a time when billions are accruing to the state from the Federal Government with the removal of fuel subsidy?
It is indeed paradoxical that a man who the people voted into power based on his promises to make life better and more meaningful for them has now embarked on a mission to make life unbearable for them with draconian policies just to generate money to fund his private desires.
Why on earth would a governor who claims he is out to serve the people now resort to approving decsions and policies aimed at throwing their children out of schools at a time when other states are subsidizing school fees and even making education free from primary to secondary level? Just last week, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State announced free education from the basic to secondary level. Sadly, his counterpart in Benue State is bent on making education at those levels unaffordable for the poor and low income earners whose children form the majority in public schools.
On the issue of N50,000 for the portrait of the Governor and his Commissioner for Education, we find that absurd. Even the portrait of President Bola Tinubu is going for between 20,000 and 25,000 naira in Abuja – a highbrow area in high demand for it – and its environs. What is in a portrait that schools will be expected to pay at such an exorbitant cost, if not for mindless extortion?
It is also curious that the goverment intends to exploit the students and parents using the Ministry of Education in collaboration with a private firm, Digi World Synergy (which we suspect belongs to someone in government) as consultants. That is unacceptable.
We call on Governor Alia to have a rethink and immediately direct the review and/or outright suspension of the anti-people policies. He has to be sincere and honest in dealing with the people. The steps he is taking are unbefitting of a man who promised to turn Benue to Eldorado.
As a governor, Alia has first hand information about the plight of the people; and it would be honourable of him to take actions that would make life easy for them rather than aggravating their plight.
We call on well-meaning Benue people to speak up in rejection of governor Alia’s ill-informed moves to plunge the state into a huge crisis as a result of out-of-school children. Those policies, if allowed to stand, may throw up a plethora of unintended consequences like crimes and other social vices that may be too much for us to contain.
Lastly, DoD calls on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC to step in and investigate the nausaeting malfeasance that is about to mess the Benue education sector. The Education Commisioner, Dr. Ikyaan who is being used to perpetrate this anomaly must be arrested and prosecuted for being the anchorman of the clandestine move to cripple education in Benue State.
Signed:
Amos Uchiv
President, Defenders of Democracy (DoD).
