By Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Abia State House of Assembly Joint Committee on Education, Public Petition, and Judiciary has asked all parties involved in the petition regarding alleged high school fees and other allegations brought against members of the Fisher Education Development Trust (FEDT), the manager of Government College Umuahia, Abia State, to maintain the status quo pending its report on the matter.
The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Anderson Akaliro, stated this when members of FEDT appeared before the committee to defend themselves against the allegations levelled against them.
A native of Ubani Emede-Ibeku, Umuahia East constituency, Mr Chukwudi Onwudinanti, had petitioned the Committee against FEDT over alleged high fees charged at Government College Umuahia (GCU) and the pulling down of monumental buildings in the school without recourse to members of the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA).
The committee, during its second sitting on the matter, asked members of FEDT to present their defence to the issues raised in the petition.
Presenting his case, the chairman of the Government College Umuahia school management board, Mr Okechukwu Nwadinaobi, said the over N1m school fees charged per session was subsidised.
On the pulling down of monumental structures in the school, he said most of the buildings had collapsed before they were replaced with new ones.
Speaking on behalf of FEDT, Mr Onyema Nkele admitted GCU remains a public school but is privately managed by FEDT.
He added that members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) have a tenure of five years for two terms to serve, after which they can be replaced.
Countering the defence, the secretary of GCUOBA, Nkem Egbuta, said the over N1m school fees being charged in the school was beyond what many parents could afford.
“Another complaint is that those who were appointed to run the school, two of them their tenure expired last year and we appointed two others to replace them, but they refused to leave even after the AGM had passed a resolution to that effect last year during our home coming,” Egbuta stated.
Counsel to the petitioner, Ugochukwu Zik, said they approached the State Assembly in order to protect the interest of the public and not to fight FEDT.
He added that the petitioner wants to ensure that the restoration agenda of GCU is not hindered by a few people with vested personal interests.
“We also brought the attention of the committee to the fact that some members of the FEDT trustees are not qualified to be members because they reside outside the country.”
“One of them admitted that he’s president of USA branch and it is not supported by our constitution and one of the trustees resigned when he was appointed a Minister of the federal republic and returned himself unilaterally without the approval of the association.”
After listening to the submissions of both parties, the Chairman of the House Joint Committee asked the parties to maintain the status quo until they submit their report.