Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has debunked allegations that money was missing from the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB). The governor cleared the air at the swearing-in of Mr. Washington Osifo as the Commissioner for Secondary and Tertiary Education at the Government House in Benin City.
According to him, “there are speculations as to why we made changes. The only thing that is constant in life, in public service is change. What matters therefore is to know when to make that change. Let me clear the air that no money is missing. If money is missing we will find it because money doesn’t have legs.
“It is only in societies where public authority is dead that you talk of money missing. If money is stolen we will find it, money doesn’t simply get missing, not in government,” he noted.
The governor said “the challenge of running an efficient system is not just about money missing or not missing, it is about how money is applied and there all sorts of procedures that the public service is obliged to follow. There are all sorts of rules regulations and laws that govern our action.”
He added, “in this business the end does not always justify the means. The means must be appropriate. My reply to the PDP is that their name in this state is synonymous to the theft of public recourses and Edo people agree to that. I ask them to explain to Edo people while they were in power for eleven years where is the vote which was reflected in their budget is and they need to show the schools which they built with those funds.”
The Governor declared, “I am happy that in this hall there is not one person who cannot point to what this government has done in his or her area. I will appeal to the Action Congress of Nigeria leaders not to be distracted by those tiny minds.”
To the Commissioner, Oshiomhole said, “what you must spend your time thinking about is those fresh initiatives that you need to bring on board in our determination to improve the quality of public education in this state, to sustain the fight against miracle centres, ensuring that those schools recognized by government either private or public if it doesn’t meet the basic requirement of government for running the school and to ensure that the Edo child who is in the school is in safe hands.”
The governor noted that, “by our actions and statement we have since demonstrated that education is a priority for this government. What we need to do is to restore integrity to public schools and I have no doubt we will key in into doubt.”
Meanwhile, Governor Oshiomhole has reassigned the Commissioner for Special Duties, Mrs Blessing Maigida, to the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Responding, the new Commissioner said his responsibility is to be sincere, loyal and dedicated to the responsibility and directives to the governor and government of Edo State.
According to him, “as Commissioner for Higher Education, I will be alive to my responsibility in initiating new ideas. I am aware of the burning desire of our governor to revamp and reposition all educational institution to an enviable level, I shall key into this obvious passion of our governor in ensuring that our public educational institutions are attractive and competitive”, he said.
