Cross River CP broker truce between commissioner and NAPTAN over funding of public schools

The cold war brewing between the Cross River State Chapter of National Parent Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) and the State Commissioner for Education, Senator (Dr.) Stephen Odey has seemingly been resolved by the intervention of the State Commissioner of Police, CP Gyogon Augustine Grimah.

This followed a truce meeting held in the office of the CP on Tuesday December 12, 2023 in Calabar led by Prof. Boniface Odey, chairman Cross River State chapter of NAPTAN and Senator Dr. Stephen Odey, the state Education Commissioner, accompanied by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and Director of Administration.

Earlier, Senator Odey had petitioned the Police that NAPTAN threatened to embark on a state wide strike to paralyze the educational system in the state arising from a communiqué issued on December 6, 2023 after an enlarged general meeting of NAPTAN held at NYSC Model School in Calabar where it was agreed that the Commissioner for Education should stop the sales of NAPTAN Guideline and Constitution to principals and sabotaging their efforts to avoid litigation among other demands by the association which was sent to the Governor, Senator Prince Bassey Otu and copied the secretary to the state Government Prof. Anthony Owan Enoh.

But the state Commissioner of Police on Monday said upon investigation and talk with the state executive of NAPTAN on Monday December 11, 2023, there was no immediate or remote plan by NAPTAN to go on strike.

CP Grimah in his counsel urged both parties to bury the hatchet and work together to develop the educational subsector of the state to ensure the future generation reap the benefits of the season of sweetness which is the mantra of Prince Otu administration.

And speaking on condition of anonymity after the truce, a concerned parent said the body language of the state Education Commissioner shows he wants to stifle Cross River Chapter of NAPTAN who according to him, are in the fore-front of developing physical infrastructures and provision of funds to pay NAPTAN employed teachers and security men in Public Schools in the eighteen Local Government Areas of the state where there are shortfalls in the staff strength occasioned by teachers that have retired from the public service.

It would be recalled that Governor Bassey Otu had approved a N2,000 (Two Thousand Naira) surcharge for students to pay as demanded by the PTA in schools to enable them pay the salaries of PTA employed teachers and security men in public schools in the state but the contention is who should control the funds as both the state Education Commissioner and state executives of NAPTAN are yet to shift grounds on their claims to it.

This dispute is the reason CP Grimah has asked the duo to settle the matter amicably with a functional frame work that both parties can work together in synergy to progress education in public schools in the state.

Both Prof. Boniface Odey, the State NAPTAN Chairman who doubles as the National Treasurer and Member of Board of Trustee of the association and Senator Dr. Odey, former Senate member and ex-chairman of State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) exchanged pleasantries after the meeting and agreed to work together in the interest of the children in public schools and the state.

By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)