The Nation Newspaper

Tag: John Eke

  • Ebonyi reopens schools closed to check spread of Lassa fever

    Ebonyi reopens schools closed to check spread of Lassa fever

    Public and private schools in Ebonyi shut on January 18 to check the spread of Lassa fever outbreak in the state have reopened.

    Prof. John Eke, the Commissioner for Education, told NAN on Monday in Abakaliki, that the schools were reopened as no new case of the disease was reported  since Jan. 18.

    The government had announced the closure of the schools for seven days, beginning from January 18, but rescinded its decision due to the timely check of the disease.

    The commissioner commiserated with the families that lost their loved ones to the killer disease and urged all residents to always keep their environment clean.

    Read also: Key ways to avoid the Rat virus also known as  Lassa fever

    “The measure taken by government prevented the disease from spreading into schools, and I am happy that we did not lose any of our pupil or student to the disease.

    “The government and people of Ebonyi sympathise and condole with families that lost their loved ones to the disease.

    “We, however, call on the public to maintain good personal hygiene to stay safe.

    “We also appeal to our teachers and school administrators to redouble their efforts so as to cover the second term academic calendar,” Eke said.

    Lassa fever outbreak claimed four lives, including two medical doctors ,while no fewer than 100 persons are currently hospitalised.

    NAN

  • Ebonyi closes schools to check spread of lassa fever

    Ebonyi closes schools to check spread of lassa fever

    The Ebonyi Government on Thursday ordered closure of all public and private schools in the state to check the spread of lassa fever that broke out in the state recently.

    Prof. John Eke, the Commissioner for Education, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in an interview in Abakaliki, that the closure was part of proactive steps taken to contain the spread of the disease in the state.

    According to him, government embarked on the measure to effectively control and contain the spread of the dreaded lassa virus which had claimed some lives including two medical doctors.

    The commissioner, however, said that the lassa out break in the state was not alarming, but noted that the closure of schools was done to check the disease spreading into schools.

    “First of all, I want to inform you that the issue of the outbreak of the lassa disease is not in alarming rate, and what we have done is to ensure that we effectively put the spread under control.

    “Again, a women yesterday (Wednesday, Jan 17), was diagnosed positive of the virus and this patient has her children in schools.

    “We believe that one of the best ways to handle the situation is to shut down our schools until we are sure that our pupils and students are safe.

    “The schools will remain shut for seven school days to enable us monitor the situation and we appeal to parents, guardians and school authorities to comply with the directive, ” Eke said

  • Education commissioner calls for establishment of more technical colleges

    Prof. John Eke, the Ebonyi Commissioner for Education has called for the establishment of more science and technical schools in order to boost Nigeria’s technological growth.

    Eke told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abakaliki that technical education was key to the nation’s technological advancement drive.

    He said that science, technology and vocational training were critical to the development of any society.

    He maintained that functional technical education was required to tackle underdevelopment and socio-economic stagnation.

    “We live in an age where science and technology are the pathways to social, economic and industrial development.

    “To develop alongside other nations of the world, we need to give attention to science and technical education.

    “This is also necessary to empower our people with practical skills.

    “Technology is either stolen or copied and never transferred; hence the need to develop and sharpen the capacity of our scientists, technologists and engineers.

    “These can only be achieved through sound science and technical education,’’ Eke said.

    He called for adequate funding of technical and vocational institutions as well as the faculty of engineering in the nation’s universities.

    “Nations develop in accordance with the level of the scientific and technological breakthrough they have achieved.

    “Also, scientific and technological advancement determine how great; how wealthy; how powerful and influential a country can be.

    “A country’s military prowess is determined by its level of scientific and technological advancement.

    “This can only be powered through technical and vocational education.’’

    Eke also called for the abolition of the dichotomy between graduates of polytechnic and their university counterparts to encourage polytechnic education.

    He said that polytechnics education was more practical oriented in its academic programmes.

    The commissioner added that the country’s quest to achieve self-reliance in science and technology would remain a mirage if the policy was not abolished.

    Eke, a professor of Mathematics Education said that Nigeria’s polytechnic education ranked among the best in the world, in terms of curriculum content and manpower development.

    “Government should review the policy and place graduates of polytechnics at par with their university counterparts.’’

    He added that emphasis on science and technical education would make the Nigerian economy more knowledge-based, where industry and manufacturing sectors would become the major driving force of the economy.

    The commissioner explained that the U.S, Britain, China, Japan, and Russia among other developed nations, achieved greatness because of their sophistication in science and technology.

    According to him, Nigeria too has potential to belong to the league.

    He commended the Ebonyi Government for equipping its three technical colleges with state-of-the-art facilities to enhance teaching and learning of science and technical education.

  • Ebonyi education sector yielding desired results – Commissioner

    The Ebonyi Government says the ongoing efforts of repositioning the education sector to boost service delivery are yielding the desired results.

    The Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Eke, stated this on Tuesday in Abakaliki, while briefing journalists at the end of monitoring of effective resumption of schools for the third term of 2016 /2017 academic session.

    The commissioner who expressed delight at the 100 per cent turnout of teachers and commencement of academic activities in public and private schools, called on teachers to sustain the spirit.

    He said that the impressive turnout of teachers, pupils and students and the immediate commencement of effective teaching and learning was a positive indication that the repositioning efforts were yielding fruit.

    Eke commended teachers and urged them to brace up for the challenges of ensuring provision of qualitative teaching and learning, stressing that the welfare of the teachers would be given priority.

    He said that the government would not spare any effort to ensure that the Ebonyi school system ranked among the best in the country.

    “We visited no fewer than 15 schools, within and outside the capital city, Abakaliki.
    “We are impressed at the 100 per cent turnout of teachers in the first day of reopening of schools and for ensuring immediate commencement of academic activities.

    “We are appealing to parents and guardians to release their children and wards to school because full academic activities started immediately.

    “Again, I wish to remind parents and guardians whose children and wards are still at home, that the third term academic period is very very short and teachers must cover the school curriculum.

    “We will ensure that we monitor and supervise academic activities on regular basis to ensure that our teachers do not relent in the discharge of their duties,” Eke said.

  • ‘Ebonyi to reimburse students N1,000 paid for unified promotion exams’

    The Ebonyi Government says it will reimburse the N1,000 paid by each student for the aborted 2015/2016 unified promotion examination.

    Prof. John Eke, the Commissioner for Education, gave the assurance on Thursday in Abakaliki in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    According to him, the state government has concluded arrangement to begin immediate reimbursement of the money to all the pupils and students that paid the money.

    Eke explained that the delay in reimbursement was to ensure that proper modality was worked out so that no one who paid would be left out.

    He said that government cancelled the proposed unified promotion examination for pupils and students in public and private schools in the 2015/2016 third term examination when it discovered that school authorities imposed additional illegal fees.

    “Let me begin by apologising to parents and guardians over the delay in the reimbursement of the fee to their children and wards and to appreciate their long patience.

    “We are trying to ensure that we put in place all the necessary arrangements for a hitch free refund, so that no one who paid will be left out in the reimbursement exercise.

    “The good news is that all the money collected from the school children, including the N,1000 approved by government and the additional illegal fees have been recovered and kept in government coffers.

    “I want to appeal to parents and guardians for more understanding as we will soon give back these monies to their owners,’’ Eke said.

    He said that ban on the collection of illegal levies in both private and public schools in the state was still in force and warned that the state government would deal with anyone contravening the ban.

    “We are committed to the free and compulsory universal basic education, hence, no school or head teacher found imposing or collecting any levy not approved by government, will go unpunished.

    “The Governor, Chief Dave Umahi has been regular in the payment of the Ebonyi counterpart fund with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), hence we access our funds and use them to develop infrastructure and capacity of personnel,’’ he added.
    Eke explained that the campaign against examination malpractice, establishment of exam ‘magic’ Centers and truancy by teachers were yielding desired result.

  • Monitors say FG’s school feeding programme in Ebonyi in danger

    Monitors say FG’s school feeding programme in Ebonyi in danger

    The Ebonyi Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Eke, says the Federal Government’s Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in the state has been “a massive success” contrary to the view of monitors of the programme, who warned that the programme is being derailed and will collapse.

    Eke, who is also the chairman of state implementation committee of the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abakaliki that the initial challenges encountered by the cooks in the programme have been overcome.

    According to him, the cooks were initially unable to access their money deposited in Heritage Bank which he said had only one branch in the state.

    The professor said the state government’s intervention made Federal Government to use First Bank which eased the problem of cooks accessing fund deposited in the bank for the programme because the bank has many branches.

    He said that government and its agents have no direct access to the fund meant for the programme.

    Eke, however said the N70.00 allotted for the meal of each pupil is not enough to provide a pupil a balanced meal because an egg cost N40.00 in view of the rising costs of food items in the market.

    But, some concerned citizens monitoring the implementation of the Federal Government’s initiative have decried the way and manner in which the programme is being run in the state.

    They spoke in separate interviews emphasising the need for the operators of the programme to follow the guidelines as stipulated by the Federal Government.

    They noted that primary school pupils were not being served quality food for the five school days as stipulated by the FG’s guidelines.

    NAN recalls that Ebonyi was one of the five states that received N400 million for the continuation of its Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in January, 2017.

    Under the free Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, an estimated 5.5 million pupils in the five states including Ebonyi would be fed for 200 school days and  N93.1billion has  been appropriated for the feeding scheme in the 2016 budget.

    Mr Jerome Nwoba,   a concerned citizen keen at monitoring the programme, told NAN that government’s intention was being thwarted due to the manner the programme was executed in the state.

    According to him, primary school pupils were fed with less than N30 for a meal as against N70 approved by FG.

    He said that the vendors claimed that they were only managing with little resources made available to them by their handlers.

    “The programme is a total failure in Ebonyi and an urgent review of the programme is needed including investigation into how money is being released to fund the programme in the state; this is necessary to salvage the appalling situation.

    “Vendors are provided with about N20, 500 to feed 43 pupils for five days in some schools while the amount is less in some other schools.

    “If you breakdown the amount, it’s less than N30 a day per a meal while FG provided N70 for a meal per a day.

    “I guess some persons are somewhere allegedly sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government and an urgent probe will unmask the elements undermining the programme.

    “In all the three primary schools visited in Izzi Local Government Area including Achara Unuhu, Akpurata and Amanato community primary schools, the story is the same,” Nwoba said.

    He said that the food vendors were threatening to quit the programme unless the FG intervened and addressed the noticeable lapses.

    Another concerned citizen, Mr Ikechukwu Ogbonna, said he monitored the implementation of the programme in three schools and interacted with cooks in the different schools.

    He said that the cooks complained of underfunding, making it impossible to serve the pupils with decent meals.

    He further claimed that the affected cooks have threatened to quit the programme unless there was proper funding of the programme.

    “In Adangene community primary school, Effium in Ohaukwu Local Government Area with 115 pupils only N21, 000 was released to feed them for five days.

    “In Akpe-Amanachi community primary school in Abakaliki Local Government Area, the story is not different; N6, 000 was released to feed a school population of 134 pupils for five days, and no feeding has taken place for two weeks now in the school.

    “In Amandim community primary school in Mgbom, Ugwulangwu, Ohaozara with 85 pupils, N21, 000 was released to feed the pupils for five days.

    “In most cases, pupils are served food on their palms and in a most unhygienic manner,” Ogbonna said.

    Mrs Queen-Juliet Ijezie said only one out of five schools she monitored in Izzi local government area fed the pupils once since the school feeding programme began in the state.