War in Education Ministry

* How supremacy battle between Perm.        Sect. and Commissioner is killing sector.
* Teachers, ors as victims

All is not well in the ranks and file of the State Ministry of Education and the struggle for supremacy between the Commissioner Prof. Atim Antai and the Permanent Secretary Mr. Chrisantus Azuka has taken a different and frightening dimension which is leading to a gradual fall of the activities of the ministry especially as regards to the nonpayment of salaries to newly employed secondary school teachers even more than a year after employment.

The recent disagreement between the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Atim Antai and her Permanent Secretary, Mr. Chrisantus Azuka has turned to crisis of power play were each actors, the commissioner and the permanent secretary now resort to playing dirty. To this end, staffs of the ministry are sharply divided as some of them seem to play loyalty to the commissioner while some are backing the actions of the Permanent Secretary.

A source at the Ministry of Education who pleaded anonymity confirmed to this reporter that the crisis started when the Commissioner noticed that most staff at the Ministry where loyal to the Permanent Secretary more than herself, and the perceived dominant role Azuka had over Atim Antai especially as related to the administrative policy of the Ministry.

Our source said, it had appeared as if Azuka had allocated so much powers to himself and it had appeared as if the Perm Sec had an overriding interest over the commissioner to an extent that memo approved by the commissioner will need to be approved again by the Permanent Secretary. Our source maintained that nothing will happen in the ministry without the approval of the Permanent Secretary and added that even if the commissioner Okays a thing, the permanent secretary sometimes counter it without enough justifiable reasons.

The source who is a top management staff with the ministry and works with the Administrative Department said that part of the problems was caused by the Commissioner herself because her bureaucratic principles and stinginess in running the affairs of the Ministry often times put the ministry into a position of confusion adding that the commissioner Atim Antai is fond of complaining that there is no money and other administrative things, but the Permanent Secretary sometimes show understanding with staff.

He maintained that at a point the Permanent Secretary became uncomfortable with some of the administrative policies of the commissioner after avoiding her for a long time, and it became apparently clear that both of them were not in terms. To a point that if the commissioner called for meeting the Perm Sec will not attend, they refused to sign or approved memos which led to a situation where they newly employed teachers have not been paid for over one year now as some of them whose appointment letters dated January, 2013 are yet to be paid salaries till date.

The source said it was the intervention of some influential individuals who stepped into the matter that did not allow the crisis to escalate beyond a confidential one, and coupled with the fact that the Permanent Secretary has been appointed the registrar of the newly approved Federal Polytechnic, Ukana.

And upon his appointment as the Registrar of the Federal Polytechnic, Ukana, Azuka ios said to have gone to some parastatals of the ministry to break the news to them. Some of the parastatals especially the newly recruited staff who are yet to obtain their salaries were said to have booed Azuka calling him unprintable names. A teacher with one of the Secondary schools in Uyo informed our reporter that Azuka’s drinks were rejected when he took the drinks to them and asked that they celebrate his appointment with him. When the embarrassment from them was too much for Azuka to bear, he is said to have said that he is not responsible for the delay in the payment of their salaries but that it is the fault of the head of the ministry who is the Commissioner.

Azuka is said to have opined that the Education commissioner has failed to present the matter to the Governor during Exco and that she should be held responsible for the rot in the ministry and not himself as according to him, he has always done everything within his administrative powers to ensure that all staff and parastatals of the ministry of Education are fairly treated.
But the Commissioner for Education, Prof Atim Antai has said that she has forgiven her Permanent Secretary, Mr Azuka in what she described as a minor disagreement she had with the Permanent Secretary.

The Commissioner stated this in a telephone conversation with this reporter in response to the crisis rocking the ministry as a result of the supremacy battle between herself and the permanent Secretary. She accepted having a disagreement with her Perm Sec, but that did not last for a long time which she said was settled before the appointment of Azuka as the pioneer registrar of Federal Polytechnic, Ukana.

She hinted that the problem started when the Permanent Secretary refused to attend her meeting without any tangible reason, a situation she described as unacceptable.

On the none payment of the newly employed teachers, she said that it is not true that her feud with the Permanent Secretary was the cause, adding that the teachers were employed long before she was appointed Education commissioner which all the problems and administrative work could have been done and sorted out. She said that the ministry is currently investigating the matter and very soon the teachers that have not been paid will be paid their salaries.