Speaking on Monday on condition of anonymity, a top official of ANCOPSS, told SaharaReporters that they intend to close schools because "the excessive extortion by the secondary education commissioner is killing the school system and putting principals under serious pressure”.
Delta State secondary school principals under the umbrella of All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) have threatened to shut down all secondary schools in the state following the "continued extortion" by the state commissioner for secondary education, Rose Ezewu.
Speaking on Monday on condition of anonymity, a top official of ANCOPSS, told SaharaReporters that they intend to close schools because "the excessive extortion by the secondary education commissioner is killing the school system and putting principals under serious pressure”.
The source continued, “Mrs. Rose Ezewu has become a bone in our throat across the state. From one extortion to another. Enough is enough. All secondary school principals across the state have been tasked by the education commissioner to pay N20,000 each to the governor's portrait for our offices. Apart from principals, the chief inspectors of education (CIEs) across the 25 local government areas are also to pay N20,000 each to buy the governor's portrait for their offices.
"We have 489 principals in the state, calculate N20,000 each including the CIEs; that is over N20 million. The commissioner has her crony through whom the money is being extorted from principals and so many have paid, especially the female principals. So, we said enough of this extortion by the commissioner.
“Do you know at the resumption of schools last month, this same commissioner forced all principals to print two banners with the inscriptions ‘Welcome back to school,’ ‘Education is not a scam’ and one of the banners is to be tied to the school gate and the second one would be at the principal's office.
"These two banners cost each principal N20,000, some N25,000 and others N18,000 as the case may be depending on the artists who printed for you. The commissioner has a task force committee moving around schools to enforce the collection of N20,000 each from school principals and CIEs for the governor's portrait and her own portrait as well.
“The governor’s portrait and her own are compulsory for all public secondary schools. The principals and the CIEs are to collect the governor’s portraits and that of the commissioner at the Ministry of Education after payment and failure to comply, such principal will be posted to a very remote community as punishment for failure to adhere to the commissioner's orders."
Another ANCOPSS official said on Thursday, as an association, "we shall hold a meeting to review this current extortion by the commissioner and take a firm decision against her incessant extortion”.
The source said, “We are also using this opportunity to call on the state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori to intervene in the issue and set up an investigative panel to look into this matter and bring all those involved to justice."
Reacting to the allegations of extortion, the commissioner, Ezewu, denied ever being involved in any extortion of school principals.
She described the allegations as baseless, saying they are without any iota of truth.