Education

Bribery allegation trails posting of school principal in Ilorin

 

By Adebayo Olodan

There was mild drama on Tuesday as members of the Oko-Erin community,
Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, shut out a new
principal posted the junior section of Government Girls Day Secondary
School (GGDSS), Oko-Erin, Hajia Uthman Sulaiman Hafsat.
The principal who was posted to the school last week was said to have
resumed work  Tuesday morning only to have her office locked by some
members of the Oko-Erin community who apparently were protesting the
choice of Hajia Uthman.
According to an eye witness, members of the community were enraged
that the principal suggested by them was not considered for the
office, hence they shut out  the choice of SUBEB. It took the
intervention of the Alangua of Oko-Erin, simply identified as Alhaji
Abdulmumeen and officials of Ilorin West Local Government Education
Authority (LGEA) before the new principal was allowed into her office.
Speaking on the development, a resident of the community who pleaded
anonymity alleged that in order to influence her posting, Hajia Uthman
and her former bursar, Ibrahim Jala Musa paid certain amount of money
to an official of the LGEA in Ilorin West.
The source said, “From our findings, we discovered that money exchange
hands between the new principal and the LGEA official to ensure she
was posted to GGDSS, Oko- Erin. We also learnt that her bursar at
Waziri Secondary School paid certain amount to the same official for
his transfer and from the signals we are getting the two may have an
agenda for this school.
“From her former school, we learnt that the principal do extort
students and their parents by charging above the approved fees by the
state government and given the population of GGDSS, the woman and her
bursar are likely to make more money here,” she added.
On his part, the Chairman Oke-Erin Central Development Association,
Amosa Bolakale Usman, said, after discovering that the pioneer
principal of the school will soon retire, the community had earlier
written letter to the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB)
recommending that whenever they want to pick a new principal for the
school, they should make their choice from the two Vice Principals for
continuity.
“The officials of the LGEA did not respond to our letter but
surprisingly, we discovered last week that a new principal has been
posted to the school. We then wrote a rejection letter which was
submitted and acknowledged at the LGEA office.
“Also, we discovered that something is fishy about the transfer
because a bursar was also transferred with the principal from the same
Waziri Secondary School. That explains why we shut the office of the
principal but afterwards the Alangua and LGEA representatives called
me to a meeting.
“During the meeting, we were told that what we did was wrong but we
told them we valued education and that if we did not close the school
the LGEA officials will not have come around to know the situation of
things. They however pleaded with the Alangua that we should open the
office adding that the issue will be resolved before the end of the
week hence we complied.”
Reacting to the allegation that she financially induced a ranking
official of Ilorin West LGEA to ensure her posting, Hajia Uthman
responded thus; “That’s a great lie, the Ilorin West LGEA knows
nothing about my transfer. It is the State Universal Basic Education
Board (SUBEB) that is in-charge transfer of school principals and not
LGEA. What happened was that penultimate Tuesday, I was called by the
LGEA Secretary that I should go and bring my credentials. After
checking my credentials, the Secretary referred me to SUBEB where I
was issued my transfer letter to GGDSS, Oko-Erin.”
On reports that she influenced the transfer of her former bursar from
Waziri Junior Secondary School Odo-Okun to GGDSS, she said, “Why
should I influence the transfer of my bursar here? Contrary to such
report, the bursar was the first to be transferred and he even
reported here before me because there is mass transfer ongoing at the
LGEA.
Speaking on the presence of two bursars in the school, she said, “I
don’t know there is an existing bursar in the school. Even when we
held a meeting today (Wednesday), the staff introduced themselves by
name. However, the former principal (Hajia Iyabo Abdulkadri) is
expected to come around tomorrow for the concluding part of the
handing over. What I want you to know is that I have not influenced my
transfer or the bursar.”
Reacting to allegation that she extorts money from learners in her
previous schools, Hajia Uthman debunked it saying, “I have never in my
life charged additional money contrary to the directives of the state
government rather what I normally do is to pay the school fees of the
children of the poor in my school from my salary.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the Permanent Secretary, SUBEB, Alhaji
Bayo Onimago proved abortive as calls to his mobile phone were not
responded to. Also, as at the time this newspaper went to bed last
night, Onimago is yet to respond to text message sent to his phone by
this reporter.

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