Why Imo, FG fight over ownership of school classrooms project

The faceoff between the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and the Minister of Education (State), Prof Viola Onwuliri, is not abating.

The duo had been engulfed in verbal war with the latest being the claims and counter claims over the ownership of a twin storey block of classrooms erected in the 305 wards  across the 27 local government areas of the state.

While Okorocha has constantly told the Imo people that the block of classrooms were being built with the N3 billion proceeds of the concessioning of the Adapalm to Roche as part of his free education policy, Mrs Onwuliri claimed that the 305 twin storey classroom blocks were indeed projects sponsored by the Federal Government.

But Oriental News reliably gathered that the project was actually initiated in 2010 by President Goodluck Jonathan as part of his transformation agenda to upgrade primary schools across the federation.

It was equally learnt that the project with the estimated cost of N40 million for each of the storey blocks of classrooms across the state actually commenced in 2011 during the tenure of Governor Okorocha.

However, the Imo governor who has been receiving commendations from natives of the state for erecting the buildings has claimed he had solely erected the twin buildings as part of his free education policy, insisting that the project was funded from the proceeds realized from concession of the Adapalm to Roche, an Irish company, who he said had paid the Imo State government the sum of N3.5 billion.

But the Minister of Education stated that claims by the governor that the schools were built from the proceeds realized from the leasing of Adapalm  was fraudulent, describing the attitude of Okorocha as deliberate mischief and a calculated attempt to mislead the Imo people into believing that the administration of President Jonathan has abandoned the state by not citing projects in it.

Prof Onwuliri revealed that she had discovered during her tour of the state shortly, after her assumption of office late last year, that the twin storey classroom blocks the governor was claiming he built was in actual fact sponsored by the Federal Government, pointing out that the Imo State government deliberately refused to put the inscription of Universal Basic Education Commission on them as done in other states which would have enabled the people to know that the project was indeed sponsored by the Federal Government.

Her words: “On assumption of office I had toured the state and I discovered to my utmost surprise that the twin storey classroom buildings sponsored in the state by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education has no inscription of the Universal Basic Education Commission on them because the state government deliberately refused to inform the Imo people that indeed the project were sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education through UBEC which is under my direct supervision.

“I quickly alerted the necessary quarters and queried why there was no sign to indicate that the project was sponsored financially by the Federal Government. It was shortly after the inspection of the Federal projects in the state that the state government began to label the building SUBEB/UBEC.  Even at that, the inscription was not visible for people to see, yet the governor was busy telling Imo people that the President Jonathan-led PDP administration has done nothing in the state.”

She pointed out that the Universal Basic Education programmes was introduced by the Federal Government to reform specifically the basic education sector and the Nigerian education sector in general.

“State Universal Primary Education Board (SUBEB) is an offshoot of UBEC in the states, which is established to address the inequality in educational opportunity at the basic level,” she pointed out, stressing that the programme was introduced by the Federal Government to remove distortions and inconsistencies in basic education delivery and reinforce the implementation of the national policy on education as well as to ensure access, equity and quality of basic education throughout the country.

She accused the Imo State government of having the penchance of covering Federal Government projects in the state from the public knowledge.

For instance, she pointed out that the Federal Government also built similar projects such as new ICT centre and Faculty of Law building at the state-owned university which she commissioned in December last year, built administration block, Engineering Department and Laboratory at Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo.

“This is aside the MDG, River Basin, NDDC, FERMA, Sure-P, You WIN, National Directorate of Employment projects executed by the Federal Government in Imo State, including roads and construction of multi-billion naira grain silo in Okigwe. Yet Governor Okorocha is busy telling the Imo people lies that President Jonathan has done nothing in the state just to deceive them to vote for him and his party, APC,” she lamented.

According to the minister, the Federal Government gave the state government free hand to hire its contractors for the twin storey classroom blocks project.

“But you cannot believe it that only one contractor was hired by the state government to execute the multi-million naira project in all the 305 wards of the state against the Federal Government initial plan to spread the contract and allow the communities to handle the projects, but only one contractor executed the projects for Governor Okorocha,” she disclosed.

However, the claims of Prof. Onwuliri were dismissed by the Imo State government as a bogus lie meant to deceive the people of the state that the projects were sponsored by the Federal Government.

According to the Imo State Deputy Governor, Prince Eze Madumere, the claim of the minister was a “bogus lie.”

The deputy governor insisted that claims to the 305 schools in 305 wards in Imo State would remain the greatest lie ever told in history in desperate want of political power.

“The Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, only approved 37 class room blocks not 305 and it is on record that rather than do the usual prototype, Rescue Mission made the schools a storey building each,” Madumere said.

He, therefore, wondered how such magnanimity of the Imo State government could come from an unfriendly PDP government at the centre, which he pointed out has a record of history not to have completed any project for commissioning in the state.

Madumere wondered why other PDP states could not benefit from the same gesture and queried why the past PDP government of 12 years could not give free education and could not build the schools as well in the state.

Against the raging controversy over the ownership of the school project by the Federal and state governments, the Executive Chairman of the Imo State Universal Basic Education Board (ISUBEB), Mrs Getrude Ego Oduka, has told Prof Onwuliri to shelve the Federal Government alleged plans to commission school projects in the state jointly executed by the Universal Basic Education Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board.

Mrs Oduka further advised that only projects solely initiated and executed by the Federal Government should be commissioned by it.

She dismissed the minister’s claim as baseless and untenable, arguing that the UBEC only assisted the state to execute 56 school projects while the schools in each of the 305 INEC wards were singlehandedly initiated, funded and completed by the Rochas Okorocha’s rescue mission administration.

Hear her: “The 305 two storey buildings are being constructed in each of the 305 INEC wards in Imo and they were solely built by Governor Rochas Okorocha and what the Federal Government has assisted us is in the construction are 56 schools”.

She, therefore, warned the minister to desist from dishing out blatant lies and misinformation to deliberately deceive and mislead the people of the state.

She also challenged her to borrow a leaf from her female colleagues in the federal executive council who are working hand in hand with governors of the their states of origin to move their states forward instead of embarking on cheap propaganda and blackmail to run the state government down and to attract undeserved attention and cheap publicity from the public.

Mrs Uduka stressed that ISUBEB has action plans for all projects which must be approved by UBEC before being implemented.

“UBEC officials came here and saw the twin storey buildings and appreciated Governor Okorocha’s initiative to step up the hope of the children of the poor and the downtrodden because UBEC and ISUBEB as partners in progress in the education of the children,” she said.

By  GEORGE ONYEJIUWA