Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has expressed sadness over the state of public schools, revealing that the government owns about 420 worst schools in the state.
Soludo, who stated this during a meeting with the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, in Abuja, expressed the desire of his administration to change the tide.
The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) expressed concern that public schools are the weakest among the four strata of educational provisions in the state.
With the state coming top in several academic competitions across the country, the governor, however, pointed out that “much of the laurels that we have been winning are being won by the other three, and not the public schools.
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The governor called for strategic partnership among stakeholders in the education sector, stressing that to signal his administration’s commitment to rebuilding public education, it has paid the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Counterpart Funding from 2019; recruited 8,000 teachers, and ended the era of Parents Teachers Association levy.
Meanwhile, the Anambra State Government’s taskforce on clean environment, the Ocha Brigade, has arrested 30 street hawkers and shut over 100 shops at the popular daily Eke Awka market for violation of environmental laws.
This is as the state governor, Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday expressed sadness over the state of public schools, revealing that the government owns about 420 of the worst schools in the state.
Managing Director of Operation Keep Clean and Healthy (Ocha Brigade) Celestine Anere who disclosed the arrests of street hawkers and shutdown of shops, said the outfit did so on those who violated the law against hawking and trading in the state, as well as shut down over 100 shops at the Eke Awka market.
Anere, who led the operation yesterday evening, said the state government would no longer tolerate street traders who blocked roads and shop owners who keep their environment dirty.
He said, “We are here this evening to decongest streets and stop hawkers and traders from blocking access roads for motorists to ply on the roads. We are tired of begging them not to trade on the main roads.”
He pointed out that the taskforce officials are out to arrest persons who hawk on the streets and also confiscate their goods, adding that they must set the streets free from blockade by traders.
According to him, the taskforce, while clearing the street traders, discovered that drainages were filled to the brim and caused flooding during rain.
“The control of flooding in this place is simple; what we need is just to distill the drainage to allow water flow freely. Our intention is to distill the drainage from Eke Awka to Amawabia bypassing both sides and Agu Awka.”
He added, “We know this task will not be easy, but we must get it right because the solution is here. The governor is serious about clean and healthy Anambra, and it is the duty of the Ocha Brigade to get it done,” he said.
He said the team is happy that the traders had started complying with the distilling order, noting that their shops would be opened immediately after evidence of serious commitment.
He further stated that those who built on drainage and waterways are being compelled to dismantle all the illegal structures to allow water to flow freely.
“We closed the shops because their shops were dirty. The distilling laws of Anambra State made it clear that you must keep your environment clean and clean gutters. Based on these laws, we are compelling the shop owners to distill and keep their surroundings clean. We will continue to close their shops until they fully comply,” he said.
The Chairman of Saint Mary Traders Association, Obinna Umeh, told newmen that they had problems in clearing the drainage in their area.
According to him, they have cleared the drainage three times within the year and immediately after clearing the drainage it will be filled up again because of tunnel closure.
He said that there are closed tunnels in the area which need to be opened to allow water flow freely and therefore appealed to the state governor to come to their aid by opening the blocked water channel in the area.
He said the government ought to open the tunnel, pointing out that it was only when the tunnel is open that the distilling process can be effective.
