By Steve Oko

Abia State Government, has hinted that discriminatory package is being considered for teachers in public schools in the state.

Governor Alex Otti who gave the hint during a media parley Friday night in Umuahia, said that gesture was to boost the morale of teachers for maximum service delivery.

He said that the state had intended to absorb some civil servants into classrooms but later decided to jettison the plans as it would be counterproductive to engage somebody without any training in the teaching profession in the classroom work.

“We believe it will be counter productive to take civil servants who have no training in teaching to the classroom. It may not serve the purpose for which we initially wanted to do it.

“What we did was to identify people who had some training around education. So, it won’t be massive but selective transfer. We are discussing discriminatory compensation package for teachers.

“We have already increased their retirement age from 60- 65. By next week, we shall also increase retirement age of nurses from 60-65.”

The governor said there was no going back in his administration’s resolve to retrieve land belonging to public schools which were illegal acquired or encroached into by some private individuals.

… identifies 180

He said at least 180 schools had been identified, adding that investigation had been launched into the matter.

“We have already identified 180 schools that suffered this encroachment. Investigation is on-going.

“People have encroached into school lands. It’s our resolve to retrieve those lands that were encroached upon and, and hand them back to schools,” the governor added.

On the allegation by the opposition that the action was targeted at those who served in the previous administration, Otti said his interest was not those involved but how to retrieve illegally acquired land from the land grabbers irrespective of their identity.

“It doesn’t matter who did the encroachment. We don’t care who did it or under whose administration. What we care about is that the right thing must be done.

“We don’t care about criticism because people, particularly those who benefited from the irregularities, must criticize. You don’t expect them to clap,” he explained.

The Governor further said he was not bothered about the opinion of the defeated opposition members against him policies, arguing that everybody will never be pleased with his administrative style.

“We will never satisfy those benefiting from the old order that we have come to replace. They manufacture lies just to blackmail us but we don’t care,” Otti said.

Otti declined comments on some remarks against his administration by former Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku, saying he will not like to join issues with Oriaku who he said was his former staff when he was in the banking sectors.

Vanguard News