ASUU: Ebonyi Group Berates Umahi Over ‘Education Not For Everyone’ Comment

The Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-cultural in Diaspora (AEISCID) has berated Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State over a statement credited to him that “higher education is not for everybody.”

The group also accused the governor of killing education at all levels in the State.

Umahi was said to have passed a comment on the ongoing ASUU strike and reportedly said: “University education is not for everybody and that is the truth.”

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But, the group in a reaction contained in a statement sent to journalists Tuesday in Abuja, the President of AEISCID, Ambassador Paschal Oluchukwu, claimed that the current administration of Umahi has reversed all the gains made in education sector in Ebonyi State by the previous administrations.

“It’s justiciable to bring to the fore how the man who is advocating for at least Basic and Secondary education for citizens indeed killed education at those two levels before eventually burying the two State-owned tertiary institutions- Ebonyi State University and the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo.

“All his actions that has left the education sector in it’s dimwit shadows were inspired by greed and nothing but overwhelming insatiable lust for money in institutions that his predecessors had carefully and deliberately invested in, knowing that Ebonyi remains categorized as an Educationally Less Developed State.

“We are aware that Umahi had inherited an Ebonyi that had a near excellent performance in academic examinations such as WAEC, NECO and other competitive academic contests like Debates. The State’s Debating Championship team led by Professor Okpata made Nigeria proud even at the continental level,” he said.

According to Oluchukwu, the history of education in Ebonyi is such that the first civilian governor of the State, Senator Dr. Sam Egwu, deliberately offered free and compulsory education for all Ebonyians at least up to secondary level with the government registering at least NECO examination for finalist students.

“Majority of today’s Ph.D holders and Professors particularly in the State-owned University were products of Egwu’s HIPACT programme- a carefully planned foreign Scholarship programme designed by the education-loving administration of Dr. Egwu.

“This was further consolidated by his successor, Chief Martin Elechi who felt the need to sustain the education legacies. His government brought Ebonyi to limelight with proper remunerations of teachers and attracting funds and investments in UBEB from the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC. This was in addition to fully supporting and funding the State’s Literary and Debating Society, the State’s Scholarship Board and prompt payment of bursaries to students including sponsoring and supporting Law students to Law Schools.

“AEISCID is still abreast that it was so seamless that even a Local Government Chairman or a Development Centre Cordinator could pay tuition fees and procure laptops cum other supports for law students going to the Law School. The teachers, particularly at the Primary School level were properly remunerated even through the 74 Development Centre Coordinators in the State.

“In WAEC performance under Elechi, Ebonyi came only second after States like Anambra in the entire South East region and maintained top in some academic competitions like Debate.

“Upon ascending to the number one seat of power however, Umahi immediately turned the table. The State government first accessed and allegedly misappropriated billions of naira paid into UBEB by UBEC just before Elechi’s exit from power in 2015.

“Since then, Umahi has plunged the education sector in Ebonyi into a deeper mess. It is so bad that in his over 7 years reign, it has never been reported that he made a brief stop over in any of the public education facilities- be there Primary, Secondary or Tertiary institutions in the State.

“The only time he visits EBSU is to harass the managers (who himself appointed) to up their revenue games. He even taxes the institution after reducing it’s subventions by over 50%. He only laments that the place can only be run as business and that he’s not making enough profits from the School because the management are not good business men and women,” Oluchukwu added.

While describing tuition fees in Ebonyi as “criminally outrageous”, the statement said: “Ebonyi public Secondary Schools are now very unaffordable that it costs over N15,000 to obtain a common Junior Secondary School Certificate. Parents pay through their noses to see their children and wards through the Senior Secondary classes up to SS3 when they are eventually forced to break banks in order to register their children and wards for WAEC and NECO.

“It’s verifiable that some, if not most of Ebonyi public schools have only two or three teachers teaching different subjects from Junior to Senior Secondary level. This is simply because no recruitment of teachers have been carried out in the last over 7 years when Umahi took over power.

“The resultant effect is that Ebonyi now arguably ranks the least in the entire Southern Nigeria in terms of WAEC performance as indicated in the recent result released by the body wherein many Ebonyi School’s results were withheld over allegations of malpractice and inability to pay outstanding fees and levies to WAEC.

“Parents and guardians in Ebonyi have been groaning with their affected children and wards over this ugly development but the Umahi government has maintained deafening silence on the WAEC performance – preferring to focus on building more flyovers than investing in education in a State as Educationally-backward as Ebonyi.

“The teachers still teaching in Ebonyi Schools are left without any remuneration by the Umahi government who feel they, including ASUU doesn’t deserve to be paid while agitating for better conditions of service. Most of them have found other more desperate means of surviving the Umahi-haram on education while those who can’t cope have since joined their ancestors. There’s no payment of leave and promotion allowances for staff at all levels of education in Ebonyi State in the past over 7 years of Umahi and he is not bothered one bit.

“The tuition fees are so criminally outrageous that the average, not even the rich Ebonyi household can afford to send their children and wards to the over-rated institution. It ranges from N300 to N500 million naira per session and only rich non-indigenes could barely afford it in this time of Nigeria’s economic woes.”