By Jude Atupulazi
Things are happening pretty fast in Anambra State these days. Before you finish digesting one piece of news, another comes up. It’s certainly a newsman’s delight, I tell you. Last week I wrote on the propriety or otherwise of the decision by the Anambra State Government to apply force to end the sit-at-home phenomenon at Onitsha Main Market.
While many were against it, arguing that Soludo only succeeded in resurrecting sleeping trouble, I backed it all the way because of the broader gains. I argued that there comes a time when a people decide to confront danger or anything menacing them and fight it head-. Soludo’s stance on the Onitsha Main Market was one such situation.
And so, Last Monday was another market day at the said market in Onitsha, and, like I predicted, the turnout of traders was better, and naturally so, because those who stayed away the last time, still out of fear of the unknown, became emboldened to come out after either seeing that nothing bad befell those who came out last Monday, or because they had seen that Soludo was not smiling and was resolved to carry out his threat of revoking the ownership of stalls not opened by their occupants.
Thus, last Monday, the traders were there in their numbers, even though most of their customers were not yet available. But, they too, will soon start coming when they realize that the criminals who instil fear in them have become toothless bulldogs.
But just as that particular saga was still stirring dust, we read about how the Anambra State Government suspended some schoolteachers for coming to school last Monday without the students/pupils showing up.
The teachers were also threatened with demotion. I simply could not believe it as even a child knows that no teacher has the power to compel parents to bring their kids to school. So why punish teachers who managed to come to school last Monday in obedience to the government’s directive, simply because the students refused to come?
Let’s go over the report of the incident first.
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Governor Soludo Suspends Erring Head Teachers Over Poor Monday School Attendance
Chinenye M Anyakora
The Anambra State Government has taken a decisive action following reports of very low pupil and student attendance in some public schools across the state.
During a monitoring visit to schools to assess Monday attendance, the ASUBEB Chairman, Dr. Vera Nkiru Nwadinobi, observed alarmingly scanty turnout of pupils and students despite the presence of teachers.
The affected schools visited include:
1) Union Primary School, Ukpo – 3 pupils
2) Walter Eze Secondary School, Ukpo – No student
3) Aguoji Primary School, Ifitedunu – 5 pupils
4) Hilltop Primary School, Ifitedunu – 3 pupils
5) Chukwurah Primary School, Abatete – No pupils
6) Uzubi Primary School, Eziowelle – 2 pupils
7) Union Primary School, Eziowelle – 3 pupils
8) Umunebo Primary School, Nteje – no pupil
9) Central School, Atani.
Following the findings, Mr. Governor has approved the suspension of the head teachers of the affected schools for two weeks.
The head teachers have been directed to immediately hand over to the next most senior officers to ensure uninterrupted administration.
The action underscores the state government’s zero tolerance for negligence and its firm commitment to restoring discipline, accountability, and full academic engagement in public schools.
Now, how would anyone expect any teacher or head teacher to force students or pupils to come to school if their parents or wards are against such? How and why should any teacher be punished for that? It’s like President Ahmed Bola Tinubu removing Soludo as Governor because transporters from Anambra refused to be plying the Abuja route.
This punishment of the teachers was therefore something I could neither fathom nor believe. So I put a call to the State Education Commissioner, Dr Mrs Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, to find out if it was indeed true. Immediately I hit on the topic she did not even allow me to land before she started saying it was a fake story. She told me that the Governor never issued such a directive and described the story as ”null and void”, in her very words.
I breathed a sigh of relief because such a story being true would have depicted the state government as irrational and that’s the last thing the government would like to be seen as in this period.
But even though the Education Commissioner said it did not emanate from her ministry, the fact that ASUBEB did it is still an embarrassment to the state government, and since it does seem that ASUBEB is somehow independent of the state Education Ministry, the State Government should intervene and ensure that ASUBEB does not carry out its threat. It is against natural justice for teachers to get punished because the students did not come to school. It is one of the strangest decisions I have heard.
Another Airport in Anambra?
I have heard this talk for about three times now and each time I hoped it was not true. The talk is that Gov Chukwuma Soludo is planning to build an airport in Uga. That will make it the second airport in Anambra State and the only state that will have two airports in Nigeria.
But the question is whether this is such a hot idea in terms of viability. Even when the idea of the current airport in Umueri was mulled, some people were against it, arguing that with airports in such neighbouring cities as Asaba, Owerri and Enugu, having one in Anambra might not make economic sense as patronage would be low.
To be honest, I was among this school of thought. I preferred that the government beef up road infrastructure, which, I argued, would benefit the generality of the masses than an airport which I saw as not only for the elite, but a bit grandiose, until we finished with first things first.
Those who aligned with this argument will today point at the airport in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, which is grossly underused and quickly becoming an economic loss to the Ebonyi State Government. It was clear that it was built in order not to make it seem that Ebonyi was the odd state out in the Southeast.
But then, Anambra is not Ebonyi. The Anambra Airport has actually turned out not to be a bad idea. But even at that, our people are still using Asaba Airport, no thanks to few flights coming into Anambra.
But to build another airport in the state amid the scanty flight schedules at the first airport in Umueri will seem as though we have too much money and don’t know how to spend it. If the airport in Umueri is still not operating maximally, how much more the one in Uga? Its viability may just be like that of Abakaliki.
For whatever reason, building another airport now is a luxury we can ill afford as we have many other problems requiring government’s intervention. Roads are still very much needed.
The money for another airport can, for example, be used in fixing roads in Awka capital city and make it look like a befitting capital. The few attempts made so far have transformed the city overnight. Places like Abakaliki Street, Unizik Temp Site Road and Okpuno are very good and one can imagine if more is done.
Beyond roads, Soludo can embark on the long awaited rail project which will benefit everybody and be the very first time it will happen here and, indeed, in any state outside Lagos and Abuja. It is a project that will boost agriculture and businesses and also extend the lifespan of our roads as many business people will be using the trains to transport their goods to other parts of the state instead of heavy duty vehicles.
Thus, while building another airport in the state looks like a prestige project, introducing rail transportation will be a game changer. Soludo will therefore do well by dropping this idea of building another airport. It is something that can only be embarked upon when we have finished with all pressing needs and have enough to play around with.
Teaser
I will end with sharing this very funny but instructive story and ask your opinion.
There is this Plateau man who lost an election and disconnected electricity for the whole village, saying he connected it using his own money.
He removed the transformer and packed all the cables, disconnecting everybody. He told his people that they should ask the person they voted for to replace those things for them.
He even also disconnected water, removed the pipes, tank and submersible pump.
He also terminated the scholarship support for 60 students in his constituency which he funded personally and blamed parents for not supporting him during the elections, thus losing the parliamentary seat.
The people had said if they voted for him, he would get richer in the seat, and so they voted someone who had at that point in time not added anything to their lives.
This is the situation in Plateau North and Central Zone at the moment.
Now, I ask you, do you blame this man for what he did or do you think the people deserve what he did to them? Let me have your reasons in not more than two sentences. The first three people to respond will have their opinions published here.
