Seriake Dickson, Please Pay These Teachers
Primary school teachers in Bayelsa State are seething. They have not been paid for 10 months. The Bayelsa State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers had embarked on a strike for six weeks at the beginning of the 2016/2017 academic session in September 2016 over these same unpaid salaries. Governor Seriake Dickson should take urgent steps to pay these hapless teachers. This governor should stop hiding under the sham excuse that the salaries of primary school teachers are the responsibility of local governments. We all know that state governors hold the keys to the vaults of lo- cal governments. They are sole signatories to the joint accounts with the local governments. Governors sit on the bulk of this money and send chickenfeed to the local governments. So, how will they be able to pay teachers? Dickson has to sort out this mess. The suffering and humiliation of Bayelsa primary school teachers must be brought to an end. For me, state governments should take over the funding and management of primary education without attaching conditions to it. This is the only way forward for primary education in our dear nation. firm complied with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, regarding competitive bid from other equally qualified Public Relations Consulting firms.
“It will also be of interest to the Nigerian people to know if the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance signed off on the payment of the allegedly retainer fee to the PR firm in question,” PRCAN said. It expressed concern that the minister’s action buttressed the insatiable appetite and penchant of Nigerian political office holders for “foreign is better,” and might indeed have confirmed the feeling held in professional circles that Nigerian leaders have no regard for indigenous professionals.
It has also emerged that Adeosun’s Trade and Investment counterpart, Okechuknwu Enelamah had previously engaged the services of the same UK-based PR firm for an undisclosed amount of money to manage the “Ease of Doing Business” campaign of the federal government without any competitive bid involving Nigerian PR firms.
Haba! How can all these be happening when this administration has been telling us to look inward and conserve forex? Here, millions of scarce USD is being paid to foreign firms at a time Nigeria is struggling with forex. Something is clearly wrong somewhere. Many indigenous public relations firms have the competence and global reach to handle these briefs. I can vouch for this. Their track record speaks volumes. The Presidency must put a stop to this wastage and ensure that it does not happen again. Adeosun and Enelamah must be called to order. These ministers must key into the “buy Nigeria” campaign. “Change” must begin with those in government.