Imo: Archbishop Ugorji slams education commissioner over alleged totalitarian policies

The Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, His Grace, Most Rev Dr  Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has accused the Imo State Commissioner for Education, Prof Bernard Ikeagwuoha, of adopting “dictatorship” in the administration of schools across the state.

The Catholic Prelate, therefore, urged Governor Uzodimma to call his commissioner to order, whom he said is creating a wrong impression of a conflict between the church and government.

Ugorji, in a statement issued at the weekend, said the commissioner had introduced increasingly “despotic and overreaching directives” through social media, warning that the policies were undermining collaboration, academic freedom, and respect among education stakeholders.

The immediate past President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) particularly faulted what he described as the government’s centralisation of control over mission and private schools, including directives compelling Christian schools to observe Islamic holidays, fixing dates for school resumption and closure, and threatening educators who raise professional concerns.

He also criticised the government’s attempt to restrict schools to government-approved textbooks and unilaterally determine their prices.

“These actions do not serve the best interest of our children; rather they seek to foster an environment of fear, coercion as well as intellectual subjugation and stagnation,” Mr Ugorji said.

He argued that education should promote critical thinking and diversity of thought rather than enforce what he described as “rigid ideological conformity.”

Ugorji said the administration of schools could not be conducted “like an autocracy where absolute compliance is demanded with threats” and urged the commissioner to immediately withdraw the disputed directives and open “a transparent, meaningful dialogue” with educational stakeholders.

He also appealed to Governor Hope Uzodimma to “call the overzealous commissioner to order,” warning that the commissioner’s actions could create the misleading impression that the Imo State government and the Catholic Church were in conflict.