Continued from last weeks post , check through this link
http://lifesgists.blogspot.com/2013/08/ta-orjis-administration-exposed.html?m=1 He also lamented what he referred to as the mother of all deceptions during the time of questions and answers by the moderator who he accused of being bias. According to him, passive members of the public were tactically schemed out of participation. Rather some obnoxious paid
praise singers who were strategically positioned in the auditorium were selected. "Instead of questions, what we saw to our bewilderment were eulogies and commendations for the Governor. Your Excellency sir, we want to know
if it is your money you are using to do all these wonders. You have done excellently well; we have not seen this type of Governor before. A lot have been done in the rural communities. We appreciate you, thank you sir. Can you imagine such ignorance? There is absolutely nothing to
show for his six years administration in the urban areas and some people were repulsively talking about development in the rural communities" he concluded disappointingly. He blamed the deceit on the Good Governance team, for their lack of efforts to ascertaining the actual level of development at least by
visiting some of the rural communities. He maintained that the state is at the verge of collapsing if nothing is done urgently. He wondered why a Governor who should be an
epitome of integrity would resort to deception and cheap lies. According to him, that was not the first time the Governor would display such deceptive trait. He recalled how Governor T.A Orji publicly lied to the Governor of Sokoto state, Aliyu Wamakko during his visit to Abia
state before the very eyes of the media. His words, "Chief T.A Orji took Governor Wamakko of Sokoto state to Bende road just in front of Abia tower off Aba road and publicly told him that his administration has transformed
the major road from single carriage to dual carriage road up to Arochukwu whereas, the dual carriage stopped at Isieke Ibeku primary school less than 10 kilometers from the tower. The most worrisome aspect of it all is that it was done before the very eyes of journalists who
incidentally are also residents here. They know the truth but choose to report lies to the public who they ought to be their trustees. They keep snapping and placing Secretariat road on the pages of newspapers as if it's the only road we have in Abia state. Try to visit our public
schools, you will feel sorry for the teachers and students" he said regrettably. To authenticate the verity of these claims, our correspondent drove through the road and found out that the dual carriage actually stopped at
Isieke Ibeku primary school and not to Arochukwu as the Governor allegedly claimed. In fact majority of motorists and tricycle riders, who ply the road often, told our correspondent that the road from that point to Bende and
other nearby villages is very deplorable and constitutes a death trap to users. A visit to several public secondary and primary schools within the 17 local government areas of the state also shows that the Education sector in
Abia state is obviously in comatose contrary to the Governor's speech on democracy day. Almost all the school buildings in the state are virtually dilapidated with leaky roofs, broken furniture, doors and windows; some completely abandoned, with heaps of refuse, human excreta and over grown grasses a common sight. There is
a complete absence of modern communication technology such as, computers which is today institutionalized by the educational system. No modern black boards and clean toilets, no functional science laboratory, library, sports
development equipment and technical workshop for the technical colleges. A situation some teachers in the state described as pitiable. A teacher in Holy Ghost Technical College Umuahia (one of the schools, Abia state government recently handed over to the churches) who asked the School Senior Prefect to take our correspondent round the school premises decried the state of education in Abia state and wondered why the state government has decided to toy with the future of the state. Her words, "you can see for yourself the state
of the school government said they returned to the original owners. If you had come here some few months back you will feel sorry for this state. Our principal, the Reverend Father has done much in terms of renovation still, it seem as if nothing has been done. How can a
responsible government say they have handed over a school with all these dilapidated buildings to a church without a takeoff grant"? She asked angrily. According to her, the only responsibility the state government reluctantly accepted is the payment of teachers' salaries for a period of time, while the churches take the
responsibility of the day-to-day running the schools.
She also lamented the disdainful manner teachers in the state are being treated by the state government. She insisted that teachers in the state are not motivated at all; accusing the state government of making life unbearable for them by their constant renege from promises. She cited the delay by the state government to implementing the 27 per cent teacher's salary scale and pro rata recently introduced by the state government to buttress her point. Her words, "the Governor promised to implement
the teacher's salary scale in 2010 and nothing was done until we were forced to embark on an industrial action. Truce was later brokered when he promised to implement it onSeptember, 2011 and the strike was called off. But once again he reneged and moved it to 2012 with a promise that the arrears will be paid together. It was the threat of industrial action by Nigerian Labour Congress and Nigerian Union of Teachers that forced him to pay March and April 2013 salaries in line with the TSS which is even a stipend. For the past four years now, leave allowances, which is the 10 per cent of our annual salaries have not been given to us. Yet the Governor introduced pro rata to ensure that what is given to teachers is tactically taken back. As at July, May salaries have not
been paid and somebody is talking about pro rata". She said frustratingly. To be continued next week. Log on
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