President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) Cross River State branch, Mr Godwin Okwu, has expressed displeasure over what he described as poor leadership quality exhibited by the immediate past exco of the state branch of the association.
Okwu expressed his view while answering questions from journalists shortly after NAPPS stakeholders’ engagement with State Assembly Committee on Education at the mini auditorium of the State House of Assembly, Calabar yesterday.
Okwu charged the state Ministry of Education not to allow immediate past NAPPS exco in the state collect levies from proprietors of schools on the ministry ‘s behalf but advised the ministry to directly collect levies meant for the government by themselves during registration of students in the forthcoming West African Examination Council WAEC.
“We had a leadership that spent whole nine years on the saddle with no statement of account. All we were asking for was accountability and not to collect levies alone.
“When the time of payment of money comes, they will come and sit at the edge of the table and begin to ask for levies. Even the court said,Give account and they are suppressing that aspect of the judgement.
“The ministry might not know what we are passing through. We are not troublesome. We want to work with the ministry. If they have any information on what we should do, give it to us. We will do what is necessary to enable us to work with the ministry and not these factions.
Okwu charged the lawmakers and the Education Ministry not to allow the ministry’s image to be tarnished just because they are interested in protecting certain interests in NAPPS.
“People should not just sit at the endpoint in the Ministry of Education to extort money from people without actually working for the people. If they know that they will sit at the ministry to collect money, there is no how that they will be responsible to us.
Earlier, the permanent secretary of Cross River State Ministry of Education, Mr Francis Oyije, who represented the commissioner for Education, Senator Stephen Odey, demanded an apology from NAPPS for the use of harsh language against the ministry in a letter written to the ministry by the zonal executive of NAPPS.
The chairman Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Martins Achadu, directed the ministry not to allow NAPPS crises to hinder students registration in the forthcoming WAEC, and asked the ministry to allow school proprietors register their students for WAEC notwithstanding that they were yet to complete payment for NAAPS levies.
