The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Walton Liverpool, in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU, speaks on the state of emergency declared in the state’s educational sector and crisis rocking SUBEB.
what was the nature of Educational system in Bayelsa State prior to the Inauguration of this present board?
Actually, we came into existence in August 6, 2012 after our Governor Serike Dickson declared a state of emergency in our educational sector. The educational system was in the state of comatose and the children were learning under leaking thatched roofs. The system was collapsed. We just felt that it is not good enough for the state. In our first SUBEB quality assurance meeting, Bayelsa came least out of the 36 states in the country. We had to tell them that we just came on board and that if they could give us some times, we would meet up with whatever expected standard and actually in not less than two years Bayelsa has moved from the least performing state to the number 10th position in the country.
These were the achievements we recorded within this period. Actually the governor in our assumption in office paid a counterpart fund of 1.8 billion Naira which was Bayelsa’s share. With that, we have been able to construct 200 primary schools across the state. We did not end there; some mega projects that were abandoned before we came in were activated. We mobilised the contractors to start working on the schools.
Most of them that could not meet our standard, we revoked their contracts and gave them to other contractors and today out of 25 ongoing projects we have successfully completed 21 of those schools here in Yanegoa .All the completed schools contain 12 classrooms, 23 toilets, a multi-purpose hall ,for primary school pupils which is as big as the banquet hall and an ICT hall where primary school pupils can access the internet right in their school here in Yenagoa and even teachers research room which is also computerized at present.
Now when you look at the headmaster’s office, you can confuse it with that of the commissioner’s office. There is no school in the country that can measure up with the schools we have built in Bayelsa state not even in Rivers State. We have seven of these schools in Yenegoa metropolis. We have in Okolobiri , Opolo, Zarama, Biogbolo, Agudiama Epie and Ekpetiama. We have installed 75KVA sound-proof generators in all the schools we have mentioned. We have also dug boreholes to regularly supply water to avoid messing up the environment.
Are these schools operating now?
Yes. You can take a ride to all the newly constructed schools in the metropolis. You will see that we have installed generators in all the schools because without them, the internet cannot be accessed. So, if you go to Brass, we have one in Twon Brass, another in Okpoma in Nembe, we have one. In Southern ijaw, we have in Amasoma and Oporoma. Tha is the success we recorded which made us to attain such height in the educational sector in the country.
These schools are built with headmasters’ quarters. The governor approved 400 projects which include 400 headmasters’ quarters built across the state and if you go round the schools you hardly see a school without a headmaster’s quarters although we haven’t completely built such quarters in all schools because we have over 540 primary schools. The remaining ones will be done or completed with the 2014 intervention fund.
But pupils are still sitting on the floor in some schools including those in the primary school attended by President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke.
For the President Goodluck Jonthan’s primary school, the governor has directed that the school should be pulled down and rebuilt. So as we talk, they are working on the school. Before the directive was given, more than 200 seats have also been sent to the school. But when I went to the school to see things for myself to know if the furniture was distributed to the children, I discovered that the chairs were surplus and most of them were packed inside a room.
They also complained that the school lacked headmaster’s quarters and that we have built headmasters’ quarters in other schools across the state. At the same time, they said there was no land to build on. But when I went behind I saw an old structure there which I pulled down. As we talk now the headmasters’ quarters is almost ready. We are doing a lot of work in Otuoke and by the time we finish with that school, I don’t think any school will be better than that school.
On this issue of children sitting on the ground, I want to categorically make a statement that by September this year no child will sit on the ground because we have made adequate arrangement to flood all schools with desks including teachers tables and chairs. The problems we had was the 2012 mighty flood that caused the schools and villages to be submerged by water. Then, if you go to our schools, you would just see only roofs. The whole buildings were inside water while those that were not submerged were used as camping ground for flood victims.
We also discovered that women were using our chairs as firewood. This happened even in my own community. When we got back to all these schools, more than half of the seats were broken and used as firewood. There was nothing we could do because the water covered everywhere and there was no room for going into the bush to fetch firewood. So our chairs became firewood. Those were the things we experienced. The modern educational structure we are looking at is a gradual thing.
Did you say nothing was done against the people who broke school chairs for firewood?
There is nothing we can do about this because these people are villagers. Do you know in a place called Okoroba, a school compound well-completed and furnished, the community boys whose houses submerged during the 2012 flood used axe to break into those completed houses and they were sleeping inside those houses within those period. They vandalised a lot of things so when we heard of this incident, we went there with policemen with the intention to round them up but they stood their ground because they preferred to die instead of packing out.
They said, ‘we don’t have any place to stay while will you lock all this places up?’ In a place called Odi, the whole Odi community went into that place and they were cooking inside our classroom, that befitting structure we have built. But after everything we asked, the contractors to repaint the structures.
Your board is enmeshed in crisis and other members the board are up in arms against you. Has the crisis been resolved?
As far as I am concerned, this board has no crisis. People are only trying to create artificial problem. As human beings, most times we disagree to agree. The area of disagreement now for example is on the nature of the board. Before now, the board operated in full time and each board member was entitled to an office. But today, the board is now working in part-time and nobody is entitled to a personal office apar from the executive secretary.
The amended law is very clear which states that the executive secretary is the Chief Accounting Officer of the board. The law also said that the executive secretary is in charge of the day to day activities and running of the office while other board members are supposed to come to the meetings on quarterly basis. But most of the members do not understand the nomenclature of the board despite the fact that the laws were made available to them. Some are not even willing to read the law.
They want to operate like full-time staff and question me on routine administrative matters like giving a teacher query and promotion of staff However, this is my legitimate duty. Mine is to set up a promotion committee, interview them and later present the result to board meetings for them to rectify. Then, letters are issued accordingly. These people are saying that I must invite the board members before taking any decision on who to promote. But this is not how it is done. This is the sole responsibility of the executive secretary.
But the board members accused you of taking a critical decision of sacking teachers without informing them.
Yes. The teachers were sacked by the board but the board members went behind me, and denied me. Thank God I had the video clips of the meeting, where all their faces, the minutes on how the decision to sack the teachers were taken. This group of people went to the assembly and denied me and this was a set-up. But I stood my ground. It was only one person that stood by me that was how God vindicated me.
Also while in the assembly, they interviewed them by asking them ‘how many times we have met for our board meetings?’ They ended up by saying that we have met just thrice but the reality of the matter is that, apart from the last meeting held, this will make it the fifteenth time we have met from the time of inauguration. But if you want to go by the normal meeting it ought to be quarterly that is four times in a year.
