Education
NAPPS president accuses Ebonyi Govt of recruiting cultists into school closure committee
The Chairman of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Ebonyi State Chapter, Mr. Felix Nomeh, has accused the State Government of recruiting suspected cultists into the committee set up to enforce the closure of illegal and substandard schools in Ezza North Local Government Area.
Nomeh, who is also a member of the school closure task force, made the allegation while addressing journalists in Abakaliki on Tuesday.
He stated that some individuals in the committee had turned the exercise into a platform for intimidation and harassment.
According to him, the committee was established to identify and shut down illegal schools across the local government but has since been infiltrated by questionable characters.
“There is a new policy on the closure of illegal and substandard schools, and the team here is to enforce that order.
“In Ezza North, where I come from, I am one of the committee members.
“The Secretary of the Local Education Authority is also a member, and the Area Inspector of Education (AIE) is a member, three of us. We have been commissioned to ensure that illegal and substandard schools are closed in Ezza North,” Nomeh said.
He explained that during the enforcement process, some school proprietors and teachers were arrested.
However, he said the teachers were only struggling to survive through their jobs and did not deserve to be detained.
“So, I had the passion of asking that the teachers be released and that we focus on the proprietors whom we consider to be deviant.
“That is the problem. I didn’t know that the driver and some of the cultists they brought into the committee were the ones now fighting and threatening to kill me for asking for permission to release those five teachers,” he alleged.
Nomeh alleged that the group’s actions have gone beyond enforcement, claiming that some individuals within the task force have been intimidating him since he questioned their methods.