Thirteen thousand newly hired teachers by the Rivers State Government were dispersed from at the Liberation Stadium in the state capital city of Port Harcourt. The teachers have been gathering in the morning of September 25, 2013, Wednesday, to collect their appointment letters.
Dr. Richard Ofuru, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, said the Ministry was compelled by the heavy presence of the Police to ask the teachers to go home to avoid stampede and confrontation with the Police.
Dr. Ofuru noted that gathering teachers was an administrative process therefore the Ministry did not have to apply for a Police Permit.
“It is like saying we must invite the Police each time we have an inter-House Sport Competition. It is purely a school affair. There have been radio and Television announcements inviting the newly recruited teachers to come out and collect their letters. The Police PPRO should have informed us so that we do not allow 13,000 teachers to travel from all parts of the state only to be dispersed,” the Permanent Secretary added.
He however gave the assurance that the disruption by the Police would not deter the Ministry from issuing the employment letters to the 13,000 employed teachers who are supposed to resume teaching in the new schools built by the Governor Amaechi’s administration.
Many teachers expressed anger and disaapointment over the action of the Police.
The Rivers State Police Command was not ready to give an official statement on the reasons for dispersing the teachers at the time of preparing the present article.
However, Kelechi Wogu, one of the five anti-Governor Chibuike Amaechi lawmakers on behalf of the others issued a press statement that the Rivers State government was gathering people at the stadium to protest against President Goodluck Jonathan.
It would be recalled that last week, the Police stopped an attempt by the Rivers State Government to take youths under the auspices of Rotary International on a guided tour of new Health Centres executed the state Government.
