January 18, (THEWILL) – Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade, has presented his Scorecard on the education and rural transformation sectors of the state’s economy.
The government has thus far completed the N11.5 billion Teachers Training Institute in Biase, as well as completing a 19.2km asphalt road in Obudu.
The state commissioner for Quality Education, Dr Godwin Amanke, as well as his Rural Transformation colleague, Effiong Okokon, presented this during a ministerial briefing in Calabar.
The briefing was coordinated by the State Commissioner for Information, Eric Anderson.
Dr Amanke, in his presentation, said Secondary school principals, who engage in collecting illegal levies in Cross River State have been removed, while others have been suspended and transferred.
He said, “We have given a lot of queries. 12 principals were removed, six suspended and 16 were transferred for the misdemeanour.”
He also said he had heard that principals pay as much as N300,000 to be transferred.
He confirmed the menace of cultism in secondary schools and said officials are being deployed to monitor schools.
He added that 1,000 teachers were being employed for public schools in the state.
On his part, the Commissioner for Rural Transformation, Edem Effiong Okokon, said some rural roads had been fixed, while several solar powered boreholes have been sunk in Obudu, Obanliku, Bekwarra and Yala, to ameliorate the acute potable water shortage suffered by the people in these areas.
He said his ministry set out to transform three identified rural areas and turn into three urban centres in the three senatorial districts, but paucity of funds limited it to Ipoun, in the northern Senatorial district.
He added that with the help of His Excellency, his ministry has been able to do a 39.3km road in the area with 19.2 completed and tarred.
He also enumerated a number of interventions by his ministry in water supply in several locations across the state.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Eric Anderson, in his report, appealed to the Federal Government to release the N45 billion, approved for the state as compensation to the state and individuals, whose properties were destroyed during the #EndSARS protest.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
