"Fire in Edo Education Ministry Was Arson" -- Oshiomhole Believes

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, believes that the fire which ravaged a building at the state Ministry of Education is somehow connected with the current investigations with maladministration of teachers' salaries, particularly at the level of primary education.



Archival documents, examination master list, reference materials dating back to the 1950s (when Edo was part of the old Western region) were destroyed in the fire that started at about 5am.

Oshiomhole suspects that unknown persons burnt down the archives because of the ongoing part of the investigation.

According to the Governor, who spoke when hosting the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), his administration has set up an investigative panel in each of the 18 local government areas of the state to take audit schools, number of teachers in the schools, their qualifications and the total salaries and allowances paid to them.

"What we have been trying to do here is to try to find the courage to clean up the mess we inherited in Edo State and to see that we leave behind. Not just roads, schools, street lights and a school system that works but also institutionalised paperless government so that the level of manipulation can be minimised if not completely eradicated.

"If there is one matter that has engaged my time and those of my lieutenants in government, it is trying to see through what is going on with regards to teachers salaries. Because the problem has been there for a very long time, those involve in it are so deeply entrenched in it," the Governor added.

Comrade Young Ilemikhene, the state head of NULGE, stressed the necessity to "recognize and respect the local government's operational procedures in line with the existing laws as to enable it perform its constitutionally assigned roles."



the Nation