Eclipse in the Rivers State Schools System

By

Ignatius Chukwu 

The last hours before September 18, 2000, the date scheduled for the resumption of schools in Rivers State, were very anxious moments for both Governor Peter Odili and the teachers in the state. Both parties had oiled their guns for the battle for months but when the dreaded moment came, each party found itself unprepared.

A few hours to September 18, activities in both camps took a swifter pace, and in the Government House, the entire fighting machinery switched into full gear.
The bone of contention which had turned a chummy friendship into total hostility has to do with Odili's resolve to return schools to their previous owners, being missions and other voluntary agencies. The war between the two combatant groups has knocked the school system in the state into a coma as the governor has since ordered that the over 243 secondary and over 1000 primary schools in the state remain shut since they went on long vacation in July this year.
As the school system remained in a coma, Odili's team had engaged the almost 9,000 teachers in the state in an under-hand battle at what observers have termed "destabilising to excel."

The undercover skirmishes came to the open two days to September 18, 2000 when the state radio station began to announce the governor's order that all schools should remain closed and not to open for studies on the scheduled date.
Most parents expressed mild dismay over the prospect of their wards remaining at home after the equally excruciating long vacation. Well, not to worry, after all, the governor had called it indefinite suspension of resumption of schools. They children would soon proceed back to school, they had believed.

Almost two months since other states (and private schools) resumed the waiting in Rivers State has become a nightmare. The bleak prospect is that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), led in the state by Venerable Ibiba Siri, has vowed to fight on despite all odds, while Governor Odili, on his own part, has repeatedly said there is no going back on his resolve to return schools to their original owners.

Attempts in the distant and recent pasts to return schools to their owners had met stiff resistance from the all-powerful NUT, but Odili made it clear from his electoral campaign period to his inauguration addresses, even when he had become governor. But the matter took a serious dimension in May this year when the state government made the first push. The NUT rebuffed Odili. Both parties went back to the drawing board, each eager to have his way. Soon, the war of words began.

As tempers rose, the government seemed to beat a retreat, according to insiders, to avoid a disruption of the conclusion of the 1999/2000 academic session.
Odili had then resolved to use the long vacation to perfect his action by handing over the schools so that the teachers would only resume to find that their employers had changed. The teachers, it was gathered, wizened up to his tactics too, and as a counter measure, announced their own resolve not to dare resume if the schools were handed over to their original owners as planned.
This was the position of things up to May this year when the national Third vice-president of the NUT, Chief T.N.T. Okunna from Delta State rushed into the state to mediate.

The well-meaning unionist may have left with dismay as he found both parties so combatant and totally un-compromising that his feeble appeals for reason found themselves splashing into the vast Atlantic Ocean. Those from the NUT team who accompanied Chief Okunna to the Government House, reported that the deputy Governor, Sir Gabriel Toby, who stood in for Odili, presented an image of an "arrogant master" who shifted no ground but who rather tutored the 9000 teachers in the state on how to obey their benefactor, being the state government.

At the end of that meeting, the teachers vowed to beg no one but to use strike action as a weapon of war. They held their easy meetings and resolved thus:
The moment Odili announces handover of schools to voluntary agencies, that some moment, all teachers must remain at home without requiring further directions from their leaders. It was on this note that the schools vacated for the end of last academic year. And each party went to perfect its war plans and oil its fighting machinery.

True to their plans, the state government listed 23 secondary schools (one from each local council) as the first batch to test the experiment. The watchful eyes of the NUT, however, caught the plans and, quickly, the teachers began their own moves to foil the plan. When they could not, it was gathered, they allegedly resolved to declare a strike on the same day the schools were to reopen on September, 18. It was this hint which the government picked up that galvanizes the seat of power into top action.

After several tactical meetings plans were proposed, reviewed, and perfected, and soon after, the announcements went up saying schools would not resume on September any more. The governor who ordered the announcement, was to announce a fresh date for schools to resume. That order (to reopen) is yet to be issued.The Post Express gathered that while the battle raged on, each group went outside its camp to recruit supporters and to appeal to public sentiments and conscience (if the public had any). As it is, the state's Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) headed by Chief Allen Nelson, has since thrown its weights behind the government.

Nelson told The Post Express that both parties (Government and NUT) had earlier discussed the policy and had, according to him, resolved to experiment the programme of hand-over of schools with the first batch of 23 secondary schools.
He explained that the 23 schools were to be handed over so as to give all the interested parties and the general public the chance to test the arguments of both the NUT and the government side. The PTA boss said he would not understand why the NUT had chosen to repulse the joint decision over the hand-over exercise.

Mud-slinging, instead of reason, seems to have taken over. Some teachers had told journalists about two weeks ago that they had uncovered the real reason why Odili, a Catholic and Papal knight had pursued the hand-over business with unwavering dedication. They said they had found out that Odili's wife (Justice Mary Odili), Sir Toby and his wife (Dr. Christy Toby, a former school principal) had perfected plans to buy a number of schools, first by handing them over to private owner and them acquiring them through the backdoor.

Another group of teachers claimed that Odili was merely doing a favour to the church that made him a knight. Simply put, that Odili was buying knighthood with the schools he was handing over. When this insinuation was thrown in Odili's face in an interview session in his office, the governor laughed it off, saying he had been crowned a catholic knight over 10 years before he ever joined politics. He also said the people in Rome had conferred on him a Papal knighthood some few years ago without strings, and said his deputy was an accomplished Anglican knight years before becoming the deputy governor.

Instead, he charged at the teachers whom he called mere traders, lay abouts.
Odili asked if there was any journalists who would not prefer the school system of old to what is available today. "Today teachers ask the pupils to hawk wares to their parents. When they come to school, they just sing in and take off to hawk, goods. At the end of the month they come and sign for their salaries," he further charged. The governor said while most teachers and members of the society had hailed the new move, only those who did not come to actually teach were causing all the troubles and mounting resistance.

Saying he had no intention to give an inch in his resolve to return schools to their original owners, Odili said the restoration of basic discipline in schools was the only guarantee for all other plans by his administration to revive education to high standards back to the school system in the state. He enumerated the other advantages and his reasons for the determination to hand back the schools to missions. The government said it was spurred to carry out the action on the grounds that discipline would be restored in the school system, including order and good behaviour, principals, staff and students would be subjected to discipline and work ethics, moral instructions in the school curriculum would be restored and the school children returned to God.

The government argued that the teachers would have nothing to lose since it (government) would continue to pay their salaries and allowance in the affected schools. Government also guaranteed the payment of all entitlements, including pensions to such teachers. Arguing that the policy would not push education beyond the reach of the poor, government pledged that students in the affected schools would continue to enjoy free education. According to the government, the Church is always on the side of the poor. The Ministry of Education would still control all schools as well as set down policy guidelines and carry out inspections to ensure that government maintains its grips on the schools.

To facilitate the smooth operations of the handover, government gave affected teachers and students, the option of transferring to other schools within the first three months. In allaying the fears that non-indigenes would dominate the schools, the government promised to prevail on the mission/voluntary agencies to obey the state's policy on employment which gives preference to indigenes in all new employments. Government equally indicated that its action was to check fraud in schools as missions would insist on discipline, accountability, high moral and work ethics such as will leave no room for exploitation of students and parents by an officers.

Furthermore government assured that freedom of religious inclinations of staff and students would be respected, provided it did not affect the smooth running of the institution. Government gave legality to its action as it said it was based on the state Edict of 1996 which supported return of schools to missions. "The return of these schools is aimed at the restoration of the dignity of education and of the child in the schools, through effective teaching and learning, the quality of education in our schools shall improve," the government said.

Government also were further to postulate that the mission schools returned to their original owners were all founded before the civil war "when government was yet to start any school in this state." If the government's argument got listening ears, it least got that of the teachers. NUT refused to be swayed. They (teachers) were not convinced and rejected in toto, every claim and assurance by government over the issue. This was manifested in NUT's nine-point communique signed by Sir and Chief Joseph Awala (NUT principal secretary).
The teachers had argued that the handover was a planned unprovoked attack on the education industry by the Rivers State government, describing the venture as retrogressive, obnoxious and ill-advised.

The move, the teachers said, would seriously tamper with the right of the Nigerian child to education. As Awala argued further during an interview with The Post Express, mission schools would not be affordable because they would charge exorbitant fees. Awala said that this had happened in the past, adding that it would be unacceptable in Nigeria of today where Universal Basic Education was being proposed for the Nigerian child. NUT expressed fears too that the Odili move was a clear invitation to non-indigenes to take-over the running of Rivers schools.
"Hand-over of schools to mission/voluntary agencies will promote the influx of non-indigenes taking over the state education industry," the communique stated.
The teachers based their claim on their belief that more missions clamoring to take over government schools in the state were headed by non-indigenes, saying that the contemplated hand-over would only promote "neo-colonialism, religious indoctrination and discrimination."

Legally, NUT was of the opinion that handing over the schools contravened Decree No. 48 of 1977 which empowered the Federal Government to acquire schools hitherto owned by missions and voluntary agencies and made it clear that state legislation's on the matter could never supersede that of the Federal Government. Another legal loophole the teachers pointed out was that transfer of service of the teachers from government schedule to non-schedule service contradicted the establishment circular No. 8 of 1976 with reference number B/1190/SE/52/11/356.

It was at this point that the NUT said it had resolved that Rivers State teachers will down tools, should any school whatever be handed over to the voluntary agencies/missions. The Rivers State government simply refused to be swayed by the arguments of the teachers. The government stuck to its gun.
The battle did not end in attempting to win the hearts of the public. The courts in the land were also turned into a theatre war. The Post Express gathered that the NUT had at one point decided to obtain a court injunction to stop the government from effecting the proposed hand-over. The teachers allegedly went from court to court but found they could not successfully register their case, nor secure a hearing.

What the powerful NUT could not accomplish became an easy job for a group of teachers who banded together under the emergency name of Rivers State Classroom Teachers Association (RSCTA) headed by one Mr. T.E. Eipibama, who on October, 4, 2000, secured a court injunction restraining his union, NUT, from embarking on any strike. Leading four others, Eipibama secured a court order which also stopped the NUT from further collecting cheque-off dues, a decision that was targeted at the purse (financial capability) of the NUT.The interim injunction was to subsist until the substantive case was discharged, but the respondents (NUT officials) were clearly warned that jail periods awaited them if they disobeyed the order.

When the court option failed the union, the NUT allegedly decided to go into the streets and demonstrate. According to deep sources, they discovered that the police authorities in the state would not give them permit to do so, and the police were infact said to have jeered its teeth full of live bullets to the teachers, should the NUT go ahead to call out the teachers to the streets. But one question has continued to stare all comers in the face, from the Government House to the schools and at the homes: Are Rivers teachers on strike? When journalists asked Odili this crucial question, he put on wide eyes, acted vacant, and asked back: Are the Teachers on strike? His commissioner for education, Mr. Allwell Onyeson, answered in rehearsed confusion" I am not aware."

At a secondary school in the Garden City, a teacher could not answer the question, instead he said: I do not know whether we are on strike. If Odili wants to now the true position, let him announce resumption of schools."
His colleagues came in, even more threateningly "Let Odili reopen the schools today, we will formerly announced our strike action the same day. He closed the schools and continued to accuse us of causing the closure. He has closed the schools he inherited and travelled abroad with his family and has abandoned the masses to stew in their own broth."

Odili flew back from Germany, Canada and Britain. At another session in Government House with the journalists, Odili reacted to the deteriorating situation, promising that it would be resolved with greater speed in the first week of November. He said "All this will soon be over. Before the end of this week, you journalists will have cause to congratulate both the teachers and the government for an amicable resolution and resumption of schools. "Two days after, Odili called a meeting of the heads of the affected schools with the government side headed by his deputy. At the end of the meeting, the spokesman said it was now they understood that the government meant well for the teachers and that they were ready to cooperate.

But back at the schools, the teachers still talked tough, sticking to their guns, and accused the government of acting to break their ranks.
The coming weeks will be very dicey and precarious in Rivers State. This is because government may order a re-opening of the schools, if it was sure it had signed on enough defection for a show of solidarity.The rest may be a breakdown on the rest "refuses". It is very clear that the solution to the imbroglio may lie in the sentiments being expressed.

Government may be acting in good faith, in its strong conviction to restore discipline and dedication to teaching and leaving, and not just out a mere design to dodge payment of salaries and gratuity. At the same time, the teachers may not simply be dodging discipline and hard work. The truth is that most teachers simply do not trust the government. They think the government was merely working to ditch the teachers as soon as they accepted to be under the voluntary agencies.

The solution may therefore, be located in the ability of the government to put all its cards on the table. If it can convince the NUT that those schools or teachers handed over would remain government employees with guaranteed pension schemes and gratuity, the loophole may end in genuine hand shakes.
The only viable option could be to enact a law that would enshrine these lasting guarantee, not just "the promise of a politician."

As it is now, the Nigerian politician is yet to acquire the stature and respect of being trusted by his mere words, despite the fact that Odili, so far, is a governor who promises and delivers.


The writer is a Port Harcourt based journalist