Concerned Deltans on Thursday rose against Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state on social media over attempts by his government and aides to castigate and discredit some lofty projects and policies of his predecessor, former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan which were adjudged the best.
In what looks like condemnation of former governor Uduaghan’s EduMarshal programme, Governor Okowa’s Aide on social media, Mr. Dantes Odogwu took to his Facebook account to castigate and discredit the EduMarshal programme adding that governor Okowa’s administration took a bold step at reviewing the activities of the Edumarshal scheme and found out that there was weak recruitment procedure applied in the engagement of the Edumarshal personnel.
It would be recalled that the conceptualization of the Delta EduMarshal scheme, otherwise known as DEM under the erstwhile governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s administration was nurtured by the then Executive Assistant on Education Matters to the former Governor, Ms Stella Blaize.
The entire idea was brewed out of her passion for children especially the disadvantaged in the society and the cardinal focus of the scheme was the eradication of street hawking by children during school hours and entrenchment of learning culture amongst school age children in the state hence, it was aimed at supporting the development and sustenance of Education related learning activities in young ones of school age.
The governor’s aide who went further to discredit the programme among other things, alleged that “Most of the employees were largely Non Indigenes of Delta State and in most cases over aged for public service engagement, hence, its adhoc nature; There were only Twenty-five professional Educationists in the scheme out of the One Hundred and Forty-nine (149) personnel engaged;”
According to Odogwu, sequel to the above, governor Okowa directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to execute the unbundling processes with a view to fusing the scheme’s activities/functions (where necessary) into the institutional schedules of the Ministry adding that “Governor Okowa remains committed to providing basic infrastructure and manpower needs of educational institutions and his administration will continue to give priority to children’s welfare through provision of quality education and moral uprightness.”
However in spite of all these promises, Governor Okowa’s administration which is known for lies and deception has not deemed it fit to put in place any policy that could checkmate street hawking of children during school hours which the Uduaghan’s EduMarshal policy came to eradicate from the state.
In his response to Governor Okowa’s Aide through his Facebook account, former governor Emmanuel Uduaghan expressed disappointment with the way and manner his successor’s aides are bent on discrediting projects and programmes put in place by his administration.
“Dantes Odogwu, Na wahooò. The way you guys try to discredit EVERYTHING done during my administration is very worrying. It is as if we were complete novices in administration. Strangely, the last administration was a PDP one and many of the people in the current administration were also in that administration when some of these projects and programmes were carried out.
“I am taken aback by all you have written about the “defunct” EDUMARSHAL PROGRAMME. Who ever compiled that report, obviously did not understand the concept of EDUMARSHAL and never bothered to ask questions. We did not inco-operate it into the civil or public service structure because it would have been dead on arrival doing so. Many of the issues raised are not correct.
“The current administration can decide on how to get the many out of school children back to school but definitely not by opening up a public debate on a program it has decided to make defunct. You should have opened up this debate before making it defunct.” Uduaghan responded.
Shortly after Uduaghan’s response, concerned Deltans took a swoop on governor Okowa and his aides over the incessant attacks, castigation and discrediting of projects and programmes executed by the former administration of Uduaghan.
In his comment, one Eduvie Ighomrore, chastised Dantes Odogwu for lack of knowledge and ideas of the concept behind Edumarshal which has been taken to new frontier in other States
“Every engaged Edumarshal was a graduate. The basic rule of engagement was that you are from the area and able to speak the language. So, the jaundiced allegation that a good number were non Deltans is arrant nonsense. Today the Delta State Government has recruited over 1500 “Local Government Ward Liaison Officers” who do nothing but ghost in their houses but collect N25, 000 monthly doing nothing. Is that engagement and payment more structured than Edumarshal?
“Obviously too, the writer has no oita of idea what the position of the Ministry of Basic Education was. They recommended the keeping and continuation of the programme given available data. But they were overruled by the political masters. Please don’t come to the public space to embellish matters you least have idea on. All the premises of this writeup are jaundiced.” Ighomrore queried the Aide.
On his part, another concerned Deltan, Donald Igudia, noted that the problem of some of the media aides of the Okowa’s administration is ignorance, saying most of them draw conclusions from wrong premise due to already established bad blood flowing from the top.
“I can bet on it that the above write up may have been made in defence of criticism from certain quarters. The Dantes was also in London when the said EDUMARSHAL was in operation.” and called for the need for a lot of things to be put in the write perspective for public knowledge.
Also responding to Odogwu’s offensive post with distortion, another Deltan, Samuel Meyiwa Khalil, described the post as another face saving post by Okowa’s media ‘rats’ to cover the ineptitude of their failures.
“If the poster had taken out time to peruse the post viz a viz the scope and tenets of EduMarshal, he probably would not have been involved in this altercation. Going by the post, the bullet point number 1 isn’t only laced with brazen lies, it was targeted at discrediting a noble idea that states like Osun, Kaduna and Plateau has now duplicated. If it was not a noble one, I am very sure a state govern by El Rufai wouldn’t want to be caught in the web of administrative failures..
“A program that lasted for some years is what Dantes Odogwu in his write up said there was weak recruitment procedure applied in engaging personnel? To even think of that is shocking and ludicrous. Dantes Odogwu to say I am disappointed by this your story is an understatement. You should as a matter of urgent public interest withdraw all this gibberish you have written here trying to discredit the previous administration.
Also adding her strong voice to the distorted story posted by the Okowa’s social media aide, non Deltan who resides in Asaba and investigative Journalist, Ijeoma F Uba, stated she was not in the least surprised at what she called jaundiced reasons given by Odogwu why the EDUMARSHAL scheme was stopped in the state.
“If a project like the Isselle -Uku shoe Factory could be stopped because of “personal differences” with the previous administration, so many other things could be halted. Sadly though, it is not just the same PDP but the same political family. It’s been discredit right from 2015. From bogus debt profile to unguarded utterances of aides, seeking to rubbish the predecessor.” Uba stated.
Reacting in the same vein, Bayagbon Daniel shamed Odogwu for daring to paint black the former governor Uduaghan’s administration.
“I’m ashamed this write up came from #Dantes.The whole of it is full of lies from the pit of hell and probably a way of covering up for Okowa’s gross incompetence in all sectors most especially the educational sector. To say the recruitment of DEM was weak as you claimed, it went through a rigorous process. It was done online, those qualified B.ED, B.SC,B.A ,HNDs, ( NO NCE or OND ), so long it’s not a teaching or a classroom job) were invited for an interview with senior delegates from the Min of Education.
“Their stipends varies because, you don’t expect the inspectors moving round e.g (from Warri to Patani ) to earn same salary with those covering Warri and its environs. Since Okowa took over, Deltans now knows who has their interest at heart, as public school is now expensive than most private schools as a result of the illegal extortions from public schools. Children of school age during school hours are seen hawking, selling in shops, loitering the streets, bus conductors, prostitutions and engaging in social vices.
“With this write up, it shows that Okowa has no plan for the future ( children ) of Delta state and as such, Okowa is breeding armed robbers, thugs, prostitutes and kidnappers of tomorrow. What you fail to handle today will definitely handle you tomorrow. Okowa and his cronies have failed to handle today, that which will definitely handle them tomorrow.” he said.
HardReporters could recalled that since he took a bow from office in May, 29, 2015, his successor, Mr. Ifeanyi Okowa has continually embarked in all form of acts to bring into disrepute the name of his predecessor, Emmanuel Uduaghan and his administration.
At inception of office, Okowa accused his predecessor, Uduaghan of leaving a debt profile of over N600 billion for him, mobilised operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), against him and those who served under his government, sponsored series of protests against him, discontinued projects and programmes especially in the health and other sectors initiated by Uduaghan.
