Teachers’ Day: PDP Extols Kwara Teachers’ Dedication, Slams Abdulrazaq Over Deplorable Working Condition, Tertiary Tuition Hike

By Ahmed Ajikobi

The Kwara state Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) has commended teachers in Kwara state and Nigeria for their role in nation-building as they join their counterparts to celebrate World Teachestarehrs’ Day Thursday (today).

In a statement by the state publicity secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara(Sholyments), on Thursday in Ilorin, the party extols Teachers’ commitment and unwavering dedication to state buildings despite the terrible work environment since 2019.

The party reminds Teachers in the state of the plethora of promises made to them by the APC/Otoge crusaders before their eventual enthronement in 2019, noting that the Abdulrazaq’s government has not only reneged on those promises but has made lives more difficult for Teachers despite the ” huge cash inflow to the state in form of federal allocation, internally generated revenue, irrational loan and bond intake and even several international aides which are not being disclosed to kwara publics”

“For the records, teachers, especially at the local government levels, were major targets of propaganda during the pre-2019 campaign struggles by the apc/otoge Crusaders. These propagandists who are now in government made elephants-sized and unrealistic promises, which unfortunately captured the emotions of the teacher into making uninformed decisions” .

The party noted further that some of the fake promises made to SUBEB teachers were that they would increase their salaries and ensure Teachers in neighboring states like Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kogi , Oyo etc earn lesser than Teachers in kwara .

“They also promised to clear the backlogs of salary arrears owed due to the recessive economy of that time. Another promise is that Teachers will be able to access low-cost houses and luxurious cars if they are voted into office. The worst is that most of these promises were made in sacred places like mosques, churches, and via radio stations. Our question is, are teachers in Kwara receiving a salary equivalent to Lagos today?”

” It is therefore ungodly that shortly after his inauguration, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq dissociated himself from all the promises and even tore the APC campaign manifesto claiming he was not consulted before those promises were made to teachers and Kwarans. This is a great insult to the sensibilities of our teachers who were deceived, cajoled, and emotionally defrauded by the APC propaganda”.

” It is important to remind Abdulrahman-led government that close to N12bn that the Maigida-led administration left in the coffer for him was enough to clear the backlogs areas of Teachers if he is sincere with the “Ijoba Mekunu” he tagged himself”.

The opposition party observed that since 2019, the government has not complained about the paucity of funding as was the case from 2015 to 2019. ”

“Even though the government has been unable to brief the people about the monthly income and expenses of the state, the people are aware that more than N6bn FAAC enters the government coffers on a monthly basis while more than N2.5bn is generated internally on a monthly basis”.

” Despite the claim that N14bn has been expended on education, the numbers of out-of-school children have been on the rise since 2019. Kwara state is still nowhere to be found in the current JAMB performance ranking by states. Our classrooms are still in a sorry state, Teachers have no staff room, and some of them teach under shades of palm trees, especially in rural areas “.

” The Kwara Learn project, which was a copycat of the Edo state government, is now dying as consultants have terminated further engagement due to government indebtedness to the consulting firm. Education in Kwara is seriously facing a looming future save for our Teacher’s enduring spirits.”

“Another petty propaganda they made was that past administrations were overcharging students of state-owned tertiary institutions”.

“We wish to remind Kwarans that under the PDP regime, Kwara Polytechnics acceptance fee was below ten thousand naira but today, the acceptable fee has surged to N36,000 with parents groaning under the Apc-created hardship in the land . It is therefore save to say that those in government today are not only running anti people’s policies but are ready to drain our people’s blood just for their own comfort” .

PDP called on the governor to live up to his campaign promises by not only cutting down the exorbitant acceptance fees in the states owned tertiary schools but also review their school fees to an affordable levels .

“Our party sympathise with prospective students and their parents , describing pretentious attitude of the government who gave them ten thousands naira Palliative last week only to turn around this week and demand thirty six thousand acceptance fees as not only wicked but insensitive”.

“While saluting the efforts of teachers across the state for their unwavering dedication to shaping the future of Kwara, we urge them to keep the flag flying and expect better days ahead when their dedication shall be bountifully rewarded “, the party concluded