The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State, Prof. Sandy Onor, has accused Governor Ben Ayade administration of failing to implement primary school teachers’ promotion since 2015.
Addressing newsmen in Calabar, Omor also alleged that the administration owes public schoolteachers a backlog of salaries. He traced recent allegation of extortion levelled against public schoolteachers in the state to the failure of government to shoulder its statutory responsibility to the public service.
Omor, in a statement, said: “Come to think of it, this government has not implemented any promotion since it came on board in 2015. Primary schoolteachers have not been promoted; there have been no incremental steps since 2016 and many primary schoolteachers are still being owed backlog of salaries.
“It is common knowledge that public primary schools in the state do not even have imprest; which is why the teachers use their money, and sometimes find ways of getting money from the pupils, to be able to buy lesson notes and even chalk.”
While assuring teachers in the state of better days ahead if elected as the next governor, Omor, decried the filthy state of Calabar metropolis and urged government to reverse the ugly trend.
He recalled how the green and clean status of Calabar metropolis made it to be ranked among the cleanest capitals in Nigeria, regretting the beauty has been replaced with dirty gutters and mountains of refuse by the APC government in the state.
“At this juncture, permit me to please make an appeal to the state government. Calabar was declared the cleanest state capital in Nigeria for many years. In fact, as commissioner for environment, I received several delegations from state governments, far and near; they came to find out from us as a state, ways and means of keeping Calabar clean in particular and the state at large.
“Today, the reverse is the case. Our state is now known for mountains of refuse. We can truly, hardly breathe. The shame is becoming unbearable. Let the government please do everything to rid our state capital of these heaps of dirt and disgrace. It is easy to deal with, and it is doable. We did it before and it can be done again and again,” Omor added.
