PDP challenges Oshiomhole on Edo debt, teachers sack, others

Over 800 teachers were sacked by the Edo government.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Edo Chapter, on Monday urged Governor Adams Oshiomhole to declare the debt profile of the state.
Dan Orbih, the Chairman of the party in the state, told journalists in Benin that Mr. Oshiomhole had repeatedly denied that the state was indebted.
Mr. Orbih said the government had, however, set aside N20 billion in the 2014 budget for debt servicing.
He described the sack of 836 teachers by the state government as “tissues of lies”, adding that Mr. Oshiomhole was playing politics with the figure.
The chairman alleged that more than 3,000 teachers were sacked and there was no plan to recruit new ones.
He said the state government had failed to fulfill the promises made to the electorate and the stowaway boy, Daniel Ikhena. He said people who wanted to help the boy were stopped because of the government’s declared intention to take care of the boy and his family.
“Government did not fulfill the promise made to the family.
“People who wanted to help them stopped because they assumed they were being looked after by government. We also gathered that the mother is now sick,’’ he said.
Reacting to the issues, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Kassim Afegbua, said the state government had never denied that it was indebted.
“There is no government all over the world that is self sustaining and without having recourse to certain borrowings to meet up its statutory obligations,” he said.
“What is bad in borrowing is taking the money without using it.
“Since this government came on stream five years ago, we were servicing the debt inherited from the previous PDP government in the state.
“We took a bond specifically meant for the ongoing Benin water storm project, and as we speak, the Edo debt stands at between N11 and N12 billion. On monthly basis, there is certain amount taken from the internally-generated revenue to service that debt.’’
On Ikhena, he said that the boy, like several others on scholarship, was in the boarding house, adding that the boy was not abandoned.
He said that only 836 teachers were sacked, adding that the decision was taken after the outcome of the evaluation carried out in respect of teachers recruitment, population, competence and qualification.
(NAN)

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