Amaechi’s stellar leadership and the effect of injection
of N170 billion into LGAs
By
Achinike William-Wobodo
Whereas in most States of Nigeria the Chief Executives (Governors) were
accused of misappropriating Local Government Councils Funds, the case was
different for the former Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon Chibuke Rotimi
Amaechi. Former Governor Amaechi bequeathed and injected into the local
government councils administration over N170 Billion in his eight years in
office as the Governor.
Under the present Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, primary
school administration and management is placed under the authority of the local
government councils. Reports have shown that this is one of the major factors
that have led to the very poor foundation in the Nigeria education system. This
is so because most of the Local Government Councils do not have the financial
capacity to handle the number of primary schools within their area.
For some Local Government Councils, once salaries of primary school teachers
were deducted, the Councils were left with nothing to run the Councils, talk
less of embarking on infrastructural development. For some others, they were
not even able to pay teachers’ salaries. This was the situation popularly
referred to as "Zero Allocation".
This was the situation in Rivers State prior to the emergence of Rt. Hon.
Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as the Governor of Rivers State. Teachers across the
state were not motivated. They were not paid as at when due and the work
environment were obviously not conducive. The most outstanding consequence of
these was that the primary schools bequeathed to the secondary schools system
students that were inadequately prepared; this accounted the poor performance
then.
For former Governor Amaechi, that was not good enough for his people, so he
immediately declared a State of Emergency in the Education Sector. He commenced
with the rebuilding of over 750 Primary School in the State. Each of the school
has computer studio with not less the 30 computer; 14 classrooms with smart
boards; each class has a teacher and a computer to teach with; the school has 16
toilets; a sickbay; a 700-capacity auditorium; internet wifi; headmaster's
office; a standby generator; open play area; a football field; a demonstration
farm; etc. The Rivers School structure and policy have received commendations
both locally and internationally and have now become the model for neigbouring
state like Akwa Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo. On account of the Governor's
policies on Education, Rivers State Government, for four consecutive years, was
adjudged the best state in Education by the Federal Ministry of Education and
was rewarded with huge sums of money. Rivers State remained undisputed in this
position, until Chief Nyesom Wike as Minister of State for Education allegedly,
in a bid to whittle-down the perceived political achievements of former
Governor Amaechi, directed that Rivers State should no longer tops, albeit, it
could not be dropped below second. The same proactive policy on Education
took Rivers State from nowhere and made Port Harcourt City the UNESCO WORLD
BOOK CAPITAL 2014, a feat that only a few cities in the world have enjoyed. The
state of emergency also saw to the upward spring of the State University of
Science and Technology from its number 76th in 2007 to 12th 2014 in the
rankings of universities in the country.
Well, this is not the focus of this article. The focus here is the complete
takeover of the Primary School System from the Local Government Councils. Prior
to the takeover, the salaries of primary school teachers were paid by the Local
Government Councils and the monthly wage bill for primary school teachers was a
little in excess of N2Billion. Former Governor Amaechi pursuant to the State of
Emergency convened a meeting of the stakeholders in the primary school sector
and announced the policy of the State Government to take over the
administration and management of primary school education in Rivers State,
which included payments of primary school teachers’ salaries.
Contrary to expectations, Governor Amaechi announced that the N2billion
monthly that was the wage bill for primary school teachers, as at then, and
which would have been the contribution of, or cost to, the Local Government
Councils should be reverted and re-injected into the Local Government Council
System. Subsequently, that wage bill increased following the employment of
additional primary school teachers during the popular Rivers State Engagement
of 13,200 teachers in one single employment process. The consequence of this
policy was enormous, as it put more resources in the coffers of the LGAs, which
enabled them to reach out to the local needs of the people better. The
implication of this decision and policy is that the Government of Rivers State
makes a grant of more than N2 Billion monthly to the Local Government Councils
in the State. This policy was initially in the first quarter of 2008 and has
run consistently till the former Governor left office in May, 2015. A simple
arithmetic puts that amount in seven years as N168 Billion.
As a separate and independent tier of Government, the Councils were allowed
to function independently; they generated their needs and created their own
policies based on their peculiar needs and realities. Monthly allocations of
the councils went to the various Local Government Councils without any
interference from the State Government. The Governor never had need to
interfere with Local Government management, whether in terms of day-to-day
administration of financial administration, except for two or three cases,
where the Governor had had, on the approval of the House of Assembly to suspend
some Local government Chairmen either on grounds of corruption or inability to
address security situation in such LGAs. In those six Local Government Councils
where the Chairmen were suspended for inability to maintain law and order, they
were restored as soon as security situation in their respective Council Areas
was normalized. In fact some Local Government Councils were rewarded for
exemplary administration and management of resources; for instance Gokana,
Abua/Odual, etc.
Today, the Local Government Councils in Rivers State present a formidable
tier to take over the payment of primary school teacher has put additional
pressure on the wage bill of Government and with a very robust capacity to
address basic and local needs of the people. This is to the credit of former
Governor Amaechi. Although the new Governor of the State has not taken any
overt steps to reverse this particular gain, but indications from his public
speeches, to the effect that the decisions of the former Governor of the state;
his present attitude and policy of "operation reverse Amaechi
legacies", tend to suggest that he might do so. Some schools of thought
hold the view that for Governor Wike reverting the primary school teachers'
salaries to the Local government Councils was an option and a matter of time,
that is, if the Local government Councils structure remained with the All
Progressives Congress. However, now that the structure is seemingly within his
control, he might drop the idea.
It is interesting to observe that from this singular policy of the State
Governor to takeover payment of salaries of primary school teachers from the
Local Government Councils, two gains emerged for the state. Firstly, is the
fact that it has created a sustainable primary education system for Rivers
State that is now the envy of all in the Country, and gladly so, it has also
become a model for many other states. The second is that, it has put more
resources in the coffers of the Local Government Councils, which has now broadened
their capacity to attend to the needs of the people. In all of these, Rivers
people are the beneficiaries of this singular act of proactive good
governance.
In conclusion, transferring primary education from the Local Government
Councils to the State Government is a worthwhile policy and a way to go if we
must revamp our comatose public primary school system in the country and I am
proud to recommend the Amaechi Example.
Achinike William-Wobodo
is a Legal Practitioner, Development Analysts, Public Commentator and
Freelance Writer
