Okowa, Uduaghan differ over planned scrapping of education marshal

The planned scrapping of Delta Education Marshal (DEM) has created a rift between Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and his predecessor, Emmanuel Uduaghan. Okowa’s Senior Special Assistant on New Media, Mr. Dantes Odogwu, dropped hints about the phase-out in a publication.

Odogwu said the scheme, which was initiated by Uduaghan, needed to be stopped in the interest of the people. The scheme, also called ‘EduMarshal’ was established to curb truancy and indiscipline in the state’s primary and secondary schools.

Reacting through his Facebook page, Uduaghan said he was disappointed that Okowa’s administration has not seen anything good about his tenure. The ex-governor condemned Odogwu’s write-up where he criticised the programme.

On his Facebook page, Uduaghan wrote: “Na wahooo! The way you guys try to discredit everything done during my administration is very worrisome. It is as if we were complete novices in the administration. Strangely, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governed the last administration and many of the people in the current government were also in the system when some of these projects and programmes were carried out.

“I am taken aback by all that you have written about the defunct Edumarshal Programme. Whoever compiled that report, obviously did not understand its concept and never bothered to ask questions.

“We did not incorporate it into the civil service structure because it would not have succeeded and many of the issues raised are not correct.

“The current administration can decide on how to get the many out-of-school children back to school, but definitely not by opening up a public debate on a programme that it had decided to make defunct without opening a debate on it.”

But, Odogwu explained that the state government had directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to begin the unbundling processes and incorporate its activities into the institutional schedules.