The committee set up by the Dakeri Anamero Foundation to enrol 10,000 indigent students in Edo State has alleged that some principals of public schools had refused to sign their portions of an enrollment form to enable the Foundation, funded by the member representing Etsako Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Sunday Anamero, to credit the schools’ accounts.
The scholarship committee added that most of the affected school principals claimed that they had not gotten any directive to do so from their supervising ministry.
Some members of the committee made up of civil society groups, market women, NGOs and others stated this while presenting their reports on the enrollment process in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Emmanuel Iyase, said “You have explained to us the challenges you have over the filling of the forms. We are going to take your message to Anamero himself. But I can tell you that the Anamero Foundation is known for these philanthropic gestures; the reason for principals not signing and waiting for the directive, that is why we called this meeting so that we can know whom to talk to.
“But we can assure you that we are also going to do our best to see how we can address it with the appropriate authorities. I want to reassure you that the Foundation is known for this and he will keep doing so do not be deterred, we will take it up with the authorities,” Iyase assured.
When contacted, the Commissioner for Education, Dr Joan Oviawe, dismissed the allegation saying “It is wrong to read politics into it.
“Labour has paid for WAEC, we didn’t stop them. Did the Foundation write to the authorities to inform them? By extant civil service rules from time immemorial, government workers don’t interface with third parties without a directive from within. People should learn to respect procedures,” she stressed.
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