3 months ago
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In a determined bid to reposition and revitalise the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Grace Adagba, the Executive Chairman, has launched vigorous reforms, including a massive campaign against corruption.
Arewa PUNCH reports that Adagba, who was only recently appointed as the SUBEB chairman, in December 2023, has said that for her to succeed in her assignment, she was determined to fight corruption, even as she expects corruption to fight back.
The SUBEB boss in a recent exclusive interview with Arewa PUNCH in Makurdi explained that she “took the hard decision because she is driven by a desire to reposition the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board and make it competitive with private primary schools.”
Following some of her sweeping reforms, not a few stakeholders in the Benue State education sector have hailed Adagba for implementing significant measures since assuming office in December 2023 to block financial leakages and enhance transparency.
Arewa PUNCH investigations revealed that some top politicians in the state, who in collusion with some civil servants have allegedly devised different methods to siphon millions of naira from the agency monthly through dubious contracts and arbitrary salary deductions from underpaid rural teachers have suffered severe setbacks in this regard.
A SUBEB source who wants anonymity for fear of being victimised disclosed that, “Since madam resumed she has been blocking all the financial loopholes from where SUBEB funds are siphoned. Now, the system of looting our money is no longer working because of certain reforms introduced by the new Executive Chairman.”
“On her assumption of office, the new SUBEB Chairman blocked all the leakages. She introduced an e-payment system for teachers who now get salaries at the click of a button, thus shutting the door for manipulation of teachers’ salaries.”
Mr. Akese Wasenen who is a former Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Makurdi branch also told our correspondent that as the former branch secretary, salary deductions and omissions were the most frequent of issues his office treated.
Wasenen stressed, “Most of the deductions accumulated to 15 months. But since this administration came on board, we have not witnessed such deductions. My colleague who had not been paid for months before the coming of this administration is now being paid.
“My salary was omitted in 2021 and 2022, I am also following up, and I am hoping I will be paid soon. The truth is that SUBEB has adopted a new payment approach, and it is working well for us. Today, even if you are not paid, the system will prompt them in the office that you are not paid, and you will be paid immediately.”
However, further investigations reveal that Dr Adagba’s efforts to curb financial malpractices have not gone unchallenged, as those allegedly benefiting from the corrupt system are now pushing back.
Arewa PUNCH recalls that for months, the new SUBEB helmsman faced deliberate attacks from individuals and groups who profited from the previous corrupt system.
Comrade Patricia Gbuuga who is familiar with the development in the board and a teacher in the Ushongo Local Government Area of the state told our correspondent, “These attacks are primarily aimed at undermining her reforms and maintaining the status quo that allowed for financial leakages.
“I am happy that despite these challenges, Dr. Adagba remains committed to her mission of transforming the basic education sector in Benue State through transparent and accountable governance.”
Gbuuga who added that the arbitrary cutting of teachers’ salaries has stopped and that arrears of salaries are being paid under the leadership of Dr. Adagba, stressed further,
“Under Dr. Grace Adagba, we are paid every 25th of the month. Dr Adagba is a God sent to Benue Primary school teachers. Before now, we didn’t even know our salaries. They will pay you anything they want, and when you complain, nothing happens.
“The cutting of teachers’ salaries was so bad, and it was across the board; whether you are a union leader or anything.
“Today, the story has changed, and we are indeed grateful to the new leadership at SUBEB,” Gbuuga lauded in a telephone interview with our correspondent.
A staff of the agency who also wants anonymity warned against the barrage of media attacks on the SUBEB Executive Chairman, which he said, “were sponsored by disgruntled elements who are unhappy with the new dawn at SUBEB.”
According to the source, “Despite the milestones achieved by the EC in less than one year in office such as the construction and renovation of various facilities at the SUBEB headquarters, the establishment of a Digital Resources Centre to provide modern educational resources and improved administrative efficiency, making public basic schools more competitive with private schools, and teachers’ training, stoppage of arbitrary deductions in teachers’ salaries among others, her detractors are bent on sponsoring false media narrative against her.”
Continuing, she noted, “In one of such media attacks which can only find space on the social media and some unserious blog spots, the detractors enlisted the services of one unknown online publisher who published a false story on August 3, 2024, which alleged that the Benue government with the State Assembly were protecting Adagba over a fictitious and imaginary SUBEB’s N2.7bn theft.
“ It is lamentable that one obscure person could malign the image of another through an unsubstantiated
story which convicted the SUBEB chairman as a thief without recourse to a court of law.
“This pronouncement further exposed the plot of the detractors and the lack of basic knowledge of the profession by the publishers of such articles,” he pointed out, even as he insisted that, “such persons can do anything for food. Good enough, nobody takes these cunning people and some of their dubious acts seriously just as such antics have worked against them in the past when one of them contested an election for the House of Assembly seat in the Akure South Constituency 1 Ondo State on the platform of the PDP and nobody takes them any seriously in this place.
“In fact, we know them to be associated with several false and defamatory publications targeting individuals in Benue State before now.
“In 2017, these same people published misleading information about directives given to Zenith Bank concerning Benue State’s wage accounts, falsely implicating Governor Samuel Ortom in corruption without any evidence of money transfer to the governor’s accounts.
“The then governor dragged him to court and in November 2017, a Makurdi High Court Judge, Justice Adam Onum ordered those behind the publication to pay the sum of N5 million to the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, as damages for libel.
“The Judge also ordered them to within 14 days, retract all the libellous publications in national newspapers, television, radio and social media platforms as well as tender apologies which must be published in the national dailies.”
Further checks by our correspondent revealed that convicts were yet to comply with the court’s orders and continued the libellous publications against Dr Samuel Ortom and other Benue citizens. In April 2018, a Makurdi High Court issued a warrant for the arrest of one of them, after the court had previously found that he was disobeying court judgment and evading service of court processes,” he narrated.
The source who claimed to be an insider into the workings of SUBEB maintained that SUBEB did not award N2.7bn contract.
According to him, “Contrary to the online publication’s claim that the SUBEB chairman misappropriated N2.7bn through fake, inflated and irregular school contracts, the investigation revealed that the board has not issued any school contract since Dr. Adagba assumed office.”
Efforts to reach Dr Adagba for comments specifically on the matter proved abortive, as a close source to her, who is familiar with the developments in the board but pleaded anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the press on the matter, said the Board was still undergoing the rigorous process of award of contracts for schools’ renovation, construction and provision of furniture.
The source posited, “As of the time the story was published, alleging that the chairman misappropriated N2.7bn, the Board was yet to begin the process of awarding letters to successful contractors, who participated in the bidding that ended recently.
“To ensure due process was followed, the bid’s process was conducted with transparency to ensure accountability in the execution of projects. For years, this kind of open and transparent bidding process was not done in the board. This is one of the bold steps towards eliminating corruption and ensuring that contracts are awarded based on merit and performance.
“Those sponsoring false media reports against the board are fighting a lost battle because the new chairman is focused and will not allow herself to be distracted by such reports. We need to support the system to work for the benefit of all of us. The era where people use dubious means to empty the treasury of the board while public schools remain dilapidated is over,” the source said.
Arewa PUNCH gathered more that, the SUBEB chairman had concluded plans to revive the nursery session in the public primary schools called Early Child Care Development Education in order to lay a solid educational foundation for children of the poor in the state.
A public affairs analyst who doubles as the Executive Director of “Good Governance Initiative,” Mr. Magaji Yahuza while commenting on the alleged corruption in the board said, “The recent false media reports alleging corruption within the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board highlighted a troubling trend where those who were beneficiaries of a flawed system seek to discredit reforms that threaten their interests.
“The new executive chairman’s efforts to block entrenched malpractices have ruffled feathers. This scenario is a classic example of “corruption fighting back,” where those who once profited from systemic inefficiencies now deploy misinformation as a tool to resist change.
“The goal of such narratives is usually not just to tarnish reputations but to preserve a status quo that benefits a few at the expense of the broader public. These are some of the challenges reformers face in uprooting deeply ingrained corrupt practices.
“While I urge the Executive Chairman to remain steadfast, it is essential for both the government and the public to critically assess the motivations behind such reports and to support genuine efforts at reform.
“Transparency and accountability must remain the cornerstone of good governance, but these can only be achieved if citizens and leaders alike stand firm against the manipulations of those who resist progress for personal gain,” he concluded.
English (US) ·