Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji has pledged to revive the education sector in the state, which he tagged ‘comatose’ if elected governor in next month’s polls.
Contrary to the claims of the present administration, under Governor David Umahi, that the state is making rapid progress in the education sector, Ogbuoji insisted that based on available statistical facts and reality on ground, the education at all levels in the state is almost dead under Umahi’s administration.
The former commissioner for Education in the state, Prof. John Eke, who now oversees the Ministry of Lands and Survey, and its present Commissioner, Sebinus Nwankwegu, had, at different fora, said the state is making rapid progress in the education sector. They also assured that more would be done in that regard.
But, Ogbuoji, who is currently representing Ebonyi South Senatorial zone in the National Assembly, dismissed the claims as false. The lawmaker, while hosting Ebonyi youths in Abuja, yesterday, as part of his sensitisation programmes ahead of the polls, slated to hold on March 2, alleged that the present government has abandoned the sector to decay.
The Director of Media and Communications of his campaign office, Ikenna Emewu, quoted the governorship hopeful as explaining to the youths that his major mandate is on education, which he described as the bedrock of development.
Ogbuoji said: “Recall that a detailed analysis of the budgets executed by the present government in our dear state between 2016 and 2018 made no impact on the education sector, which is actually the most vital for the development and future of any society.
“Please, go back and check for yourselves that save for a pitiable N3 million the governor released for the Secondary Education Board (SEB) in the 2016 budget, not a dime was spent in the capital budgetary provision of the state.
“Ironically, monies are budgeted for the sector’s capital sector, but, the implementation has been zero, an absolute zero.
“And we need to ask questions on why it is so. But, without even going far, we see the signs everywhere that infrastructure in almost all primary and secondary schools in the state are in their worst state.
“Even the teachers and other workers in the schools, like their counterparts in other sectors, are not paid well, and have not been promoted in four years. This applies to all levels from primary through to the tertiary.”