Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
Kogi State Government has reaffirmed to its readiness to impose severe sanctions on heads of schools or institutions in the state who fail to comply with the shut down directive on schools.
The State Commissioner for Education Science and Technology, Hon. Wemi Jones, gave the warning while speaking to journalists after monitoring some schools in the state to enforce the shut down order by the governor.
The Commissioner noted that some schools especially private schools were still flaunting the government shut down directive to the extent of asking their students to come to school in mufti to write exams.
The Commissioner, therefore advised the students not to allow themselves to be used by anybody for their selfish and pecuniary gains, saying, ”it is somebody that is alive that can acquire education”.
”The enforcement order which started on Monday March 23, will continue until the whole schools in the state fully complied with the government’s directive in order to ensure the safety of our children.
”Today, we have continued with the exercise and we noted that one or two schools still flauted the directives. We have also received a number of calls from people informing us about some schools defiling the order.
”Our enforcement drive is continuous and we are not going to relent until all schools and institutions in the state especially the private schools adhered strictly to the shut down directive,” he said.
Some of the schools that flauted the directives, visited by the Commissioner and his team include: Prime Polytechnic Jida Bass in Ajaokuta, the Grace Prince International School Obajana, and Harvard Academy Lokoja.
Earlier, while addressing the students on ground at the Prime Polytechnic, the Commissioner advised the students not to allow themselves to be used by anybody to cause problems for themselves and their family.
The Commissioner warned in strong term the founder of the Prime Polytechnic, Bishop Benjamin Emeka, not to endanger the life of the students but should take proactive steps inline with the federal and state governments’ efforts to addressing the pandemic.
The Commissioner, therefore, ordered the immediate shut down of the institution until there is a directive from the ministry before reopening.
While at both the Grace Prince International School Obajana, and Harvard Academy Lokoja, the Commissioner expressed his displeasure over the attitude of the schools’ heads for deliberately flaunting the government directive, and ordered the schools to be shut down, while directing the schools’ heads to report in his office with their Operating Licences.
The Commissioner restated the State Government’s readiness to henceforth arrest and prosecute any head of school found operating and toying with the life of the children.
The Commissioner was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Pastor Emmanuel Idenyi, and some directors of the ministry.