Governor Oborevwori Urged To Probe Delta Ministry Of Secondary Education Under Rose Ezewu

Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State has been urged to probe the state’s Ministry of Secondary Education and its Commissioner, Rose Ezewu.

Rose Ezewu

The call was made by a staff of the ministry in the wake of the suspension of the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Perekebena Omoun Perez over allegations of violating the Public Procurement Act.

Perez, the permanent secretary, Ben Agamah, and workers in the ministry were alleged to have illegally transferred N280 million meant for agricultural programmes through a private account.

While Perez was suspended, Agamah; the Assistant Director of Agricultural Engineering, Oki Yintareke; and the Chief Accountant, Gabriel Idiatacheko, were ordered by Oborevwori to proceed on compulsory leave until further notice in line with civil service extant rules.

Emphasizing that there were still bad eggs in Oborevwori’s administration, the staff who wants to remain anonymous noted that the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is not the only government ministry where corruption thrives in the state. He urged the governor to look into several allegations that have trailed Ezewu who among others has been alleged of empowering the Deputy Directors in her ministry to sign documents meant for the Directors, thus making them head of departments and directly flouting the rules of service by refusing to implement the hierarchy of the scheme of service.

“The fight against corruption should be total. There are several other ministries, departments, and agencies that violation of civil service laws, and corruption is taking place in the state. The development involving the  Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources should not be treated in isolation, the fight against corruption should be holistic,” he said.

Ezewu has been accused of several wrongdoings including compelling school principals and Chief Inspectors of Education (CIEs) to pay an illegal fee of N20,000 for the purchase of portraits of Governor Oborevwori, and herself.

The commissioner was said to have constituted an education monitoring taskforce team, led by one Tony Edah, to compel all principals in the state to pay the N20,000 within her stipulated deadline. She was also said to have appointed one Israel Akpokeri in the ministry, to inform the principals and CIEs of the need to comply or face her wrath.

As a commissioner nominee of Oborevwori, Ezewu who anticipated that she would return as the Commissioner for Secondary Education in the new government allegedly locked up her office for months after the former governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, dissolved his cabinet.

Apart from this, Ezewu has been alleged of officially writing to and requesting external examination bodies to recognise the Deputy Director as the official signatory and head of the examination department.

According to our source, the commissioner has also been allegedly requesting illegal and unapproved levies from private secondary schools before they are approved or licensed, adding that she also encourages illegal collection of levies not approved by the state government by school heads from students in public secondary schools for certificate examinations (BECE, WAEC).

“The commissioner minutes memos and mails to Deputy Directors and not Directors. Using her cohorts, she collects illegal collection/racketeering for posting as Chief Inspector of Education.

“On the 12th of October, 2023 she imposed that principals in all public secondary schools are to pay the sum of N20,000 each for her portrait and that of the governor. However, the principals vowed to shut down down schools if the illegal purchase was not reversed.

“She vowed not to work with some of the directors. On the 8th of November, she assigned junior officers on SGL 16 as heads of departments to the disadvantage of the substantive directors who had refused to carry out any of her instructions that breached the law of service.

“On the 4th of December 2023 via a circular letter by the Head of Service, the posting was cancelled following a protest letter by some senior officers. The posting was later abrogated on the 6th of December via a circular letter dated the 6th of December, 2023 by the Head of Service. It became a thug of war as the Commissioner for Secondary Education still not satisfied went back to the Head of Service stating that she would be mocked and she did not want most of the Directors. However, she was made to understand that the hierarchy in the scheme of service must be followed.

“To give in to some of her requests, the Head of Service assumed the role of posting Directors and Deputy Directors in the Ministry, thereby making a few changes assigning Deputy Directors to the various departments in the primary and secondary ministry based on her wish. The posting letter is dated 3rd January 2024,” our source alleged.

He further revealed that after the release of the posting letter, Ezewu requested to have a meeting on the 11th of January, 2024, with all Directors and Deputy Directors where the said posting letter was read out by the Director Administration.

Our source revealed that in the meeting, the commissioner made it clear that she would direct official mails and memos to whoever she wished to direct to irrespective of hierarchy. She also added that in the Exams Department, all her memos should be directed to the Deputy Director of Secondary Education.

The Commissioner of Secondary Education was quoted in the meeting to have said that she was not witch haunting anybody as Director.

Requesting the Deputy Director to take charge of all secondary exams, our source alleged that the commissioner is aware that the Deputy Director Secondary exams who is one of her cohorts produced an unofficial Director stamp which is being used by the Deputy Director for the screening of all students.

He therefore called on the state governor to probe the many allegations trailing the ministry and its commissioner, adding that they are too mind-blowing to be swept under the carpet.