By Achinike William-Wobodo
Whereas in most States of Nigeria the Chief Executives (Governors)
were accused of misappropriating Local Government Councils Funds, the
case was different for the former Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon
Chibuke Rotimi Amaechi. Former Governor Amaechi bequeathed and
injected into the local government councils administration over N170
Billion in his eight years in office as the Governor.
Under the present Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
primary school administration and management is placed under the
authority of the local government councils. Reports have shown that
this is one of the major factors that have led to the very poor
foundation in the Nigeria education system. This is so because most of
the Local Government Councils do not have the financial capacity to
handle the number of primary schools within their area.
For some Local Government Councils, once salaries of primary school
teachers were deducted, the Councils were left with nothing to run the
Councils, talk less of embarking on infrastructural development. For
some others, they were not even able to pay teachers’ salaries. This
was the situation popularly referred to as “Zero Allocation”.
This was the situation in Rivers State prior to the emergence of Rt.
Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as the Governor of Rivers State. Teachers
across the state were not motivated. They were not paid as at when due
and the work environment were obviously not conducive. The most
outstanding consequence of these was that the primary schools
bequeathed to the secondary schools system students that were
inadequately prepared; this accounted the poor performance then.
For former Governor Amaechi, that was not good enough for his people,
so he immediately declared a State of Emergency in the Education
Sector. He commenced with the rebuilding of over 750 Primary School in
the State. Each of the school has computer studio with not less the 30
computer; 14 classrooms with smart boards; each class has a teacher
and a computer to teach with; the school has 16 toilets; a sickbay; a
700-capacity auditorium; internet wifi; headmaster’s office; a standby
generator; open play area; a football field; a demonstration farm;
etc. The Rivers School structure and policy have received
commendations both locally and internationally and have now become the
model for neigbouring state like Akwa Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo. On
account of the Governor’s policies on Education, Rivers State
Government, for four consecutive years, was adjudged the best state in
Education by the Federal Ministry of Education and was rewarded with
huge sums of money. Rivers State remained undisputed in this position,
until Chief Nyesom Wike as Minister of State for Education allegedly,
in a bid to whittle-down the perceived political achievements of
former Governor Amaechi, directed that Rivers State should no longer
tops, albeit, it could not be dropped below second. The same
proactive policy on Education took Rivers State from nowhere and made
Port Harcourt City the UNESCO WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014, a feat that
only a few cities in the world have enjoyed. The state of emergency
also saw to the upward spring of the State University of Science and
Technology from its number 76th in 2007 to 12th 2014 in the rankings
of universities in the country.
Well, this is not the focus of this article. The focus here is the
complete takeover of the Primary School System from the Local
Government Councils. Prior to the takeover, the salaries of primary
school teachers were paid by the Local Government Councils and the
monthly wage bill for primary school teachers was a little in excess
of N2Billion. Former Governor Amaechi pursuant to the State of
Emergency convened a meeting of the stakeholders in the primary school
sector and announced the policy of the State Government to take over
the administration and management of primary school education in
Rivers State, which included payments of primary school teachers’
salaries.
Contrary to expectations, Governor Amaechi announced that the
N2billion monthly that was the wage bill for primary school teachers,
as at then, and which would have been the contribution of, or cost to,
the Local Government Councils should be reverted and re-injected into
the Local Government Council System. Subsequently, that wage bill
increased following the employment of additional primary school
teachers during the popular Rivers State Engagement of 13,200 teachers
in one single employment process. The consequence of this policy was
enormous, as it put more resources in the coffers of the LGAs, which
enabled them to reach out to the local needs of the people better. The
implication of this decision and policy is that the Government of
Rivers State makes a grant of more than N2 Billion monthly to the
Local Government Councils in the State. This policy was initially in
the first quarter of 2008 and has run consistently till the former
Governor left office in May, 2015. A simple arithmetic puts that
amount in seven years as N168 Billion.
As a separate and independent tier of Government, the Councils were
allowed to function independently; they generated their needs and
created their own policies based on their peculiar needs and
realities. Monthly allocations of the councils went to the various
Local Government Councils without any interference from the State
Government. The Governor never had need to interfere with Local
Government management, whether in terms of day-to-day administration
of financial administration, except for two or three cases, where the
Governor had had, on the approval of the House of Assembly to suspend
some Local government Chairmen either on grounds of corruption or
inability to address security situation in such LGAs. In those six
Local Government Councils where the Chairmen were suspended for
inability to maintain law and order, they were restored as soon as
security situation in their respective Council Areas was normalized.
In fact some Local Government Councils were rewarded for exemplary
administration and management of resources; for instance Gokana,
Abua/Odual, etc.
Today, the Local Government Councils in Rivers State present a
formidable tier to take over the payment of primary school teacher has
put additional pressure on the wage bill of Government and with a very
robust capacity to address basic and local needs of the people. This
is to the credit of former Governor Amaechi. Although the new Governor
of the State has not taken any overt steps to reverse this particular
gain, but indications from his public speeches, to the effect that the
decisions of the former Governor of the state; his present attitude
and policy of “operation reverse Amaechi legacies”, tend to suggest
that he might do so. Some schools of thought hold the view that for
Governor Wike reverting the primary school teachers’ salaries to the
Local government Councils was an option and a matter of time, that is,
if the Local government Councils structure remained with the All
Progressives Congress. However, now that the structure is seemingly
within his control, he might drop the idea.
It is interesting to observe that from this singular policy of the
State Governor to takeover payment of salaries of primary school
teachers from the Local Government Councils, two gains emerged for the
state. Firstly, is the fact that it has created a sustainable primary
education system for Rivers State that is now the envy of all in the
Country, and gladly so, it has also become a model for many other
states. The second is that, it has put more resources in the coffers
of the Local Government Councils, which has now broadened their
capacity to attend to the needs of the people. In all of these, Rivers
people are the beneficiaries of this singular act of proactive good
governance.
In conclusion, transferring primary education from the Local
Government Councils to the State Government is a worthwhile policy and
a way to go if we must revamp our comatose public primary school
system in the country and I am proud to recommend the Amaechi Example.
Achinike William-Wobodo is Legal Practitioner, Development Analysts
and Public Commentator and Freelance Writer.
