AKSU Crisis: The burden of transferred chaos
For too long, the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel had been quite unlucky to have a competent hand that would deliver the desired results as Commissioner for Education. From political appointees with no modicum of expertise in educational administration to professors with caricature administrative performance, Governor Emmanuel had experimented all in his quest for a befitting Commissioner for Education. The governor’s frustration has been very glaring as the Ministry has been affected in almost all of the administration’s cabinet reshuffling till the last, which eventually led to the appointment of Mrs. Idongesit Etiebet as the State Commissioner for Education.
Until Mrs. Etiebet’s appointment, it was commonplace for people to randomly ask questions like “Does Akwa Ibom even have a Commissioner for Education?”, “Who is the State Commissioner for Education?” and so on. This was understandable because it was a norm for previous Commissioners to get lost in the job soon after their swearing-in. So, for starters, the first thing Mrs. Etiebet has done differently since assuming office is consistently putting the education sector and by extension, her Ministry, in the spotlight. Sometimes, I’d like to think that her appointment as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Education Monitoring prepared her for the current office. At other times, I just think she was naturally prepared for the task.
Like a few other efficient hands in the administration, the Education Commissioner is thriving in her duty post amidst enormous challenges, and evidently showing beautiful prospects for the education sector if she’s allowed to continue serving under relatively favourable conditions. Having seen a Professor donate battery radios to students as prizes for a state-sponsored quiz competition, I was one of those who hardly believed there will be much difference under Mrs. Etiebet as Commissioner for Education. But from the stability, collaborations, day-to-day little wins to the one-step-at-a-time progress, she has recorded so far, I am convinced that she is indeed the answer that Governor Udom Emmanuel had been searching for.
However, on the other side of my conviction, lies a great fear for this woman. Not too long ago, I found myself wishing it was possible to limit Mrs. Etiebet’s scope of duty to primary and secondary education while the supervision of tertiary education and its complexities is domiciled in another office. Take Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) for instance. In a space of few months, the Governor has constituted two different panels to resolve different crises in the institution. First, it was a visitation panel which was in response to the prolonged conflict between the school management and the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Akwa Ibom State Chapter. The panel, headed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen, had the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Etiebet and other government officials as members. Few days ago, the Governor constituted another panel in response to the public outcry against the expulsion of a final year student, Iniobong Ekpo. This time, the panel is headed by the Commissioner for Education with other Commissioners as members.
Besides the Governor, the Commissioner for Education and the institution, the other most likely recurring names in both crises are the Commissioner for Works and Fire Service, Prof. Eno Ibanga, who is a former vice chancellor of the University, and the current vice chancellor, Prof. Nse Essien, who is a former Commissioner for Education. It can be recalled that the inclusion of Eno Ibanga and Nse Essien as members of the visitation panel was strongly resisted by Labour on the basis that both of them were at the center of the crisis, and it is only natural that no one can be a judge in his own case. Of course, that agitation by NLC resulted in the removal of the duo from the panel. Those who are privy to the politics and conflict of interests that played out in the course of resolving that crisis, would agree that it took an Ephraim Inyang’s kind of firmness to give that case the forthrightness it deserved.
Ordinarily, the appointment of Mrs. Etiebet as chairman of the panel should be a good thing because its indicates the growing confidence that the governor has in the Education Commissioner. In my opinion, there are only a handful of people in this administration that the governor can appoint as mediators in very sensitive cases such as this. However, I’d like to look at it this way: On the one hand, Mrs. Etiebet is chairing a panel that will be reexamining an action that was initiated under the former VC now a serving commissioner (her colleague) and perfected under the current VC and former Commissioner for Education (her former boss). On the other hand, by this appointment, this woman has been offered as a sacrificial lamb to an extremely aggrieved public for a chaos she did not create. Regardless of how you choose to look at it, this is not an easy task.
By the time this panel completes its assignment within the stipulated two weeks, one of these two blocs will be offended – a small yet powerful cabal within the establishment who will be desperately hoping that the outcome of the enquiry will strongly validate their earlier decision to expel the student, and a very provoked anti-establishment public with an uncompromising demand for the complete annulment of Iniobong Ekpo’s expulsion and the full reinstatement of his studentship. Make no mistakes, these two blocs can be equally brutal and ruthless against an adversary (perceived or real). The most straight-out-of-hell conspiracies, blackmail and evil gang ups in government are usually the handiwork of an aggrieved cabal within the same system. Then, there is a public that can cause an unimaginable damage to anyone’s reputation or personality when they are on rampage.
In my opinion, even though it looks so easy on paper, the reality is that, regardless the outcome of its enquiry, the panel will be making a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. I fear that as the chairman of the panel, Mrs. Etiebet will bear a huge chunk of the burden. May be the composition of the panel (as made public yesterday) will be a silver lining, and I earnestly pray so, because by the time this case is all over, I for one, will love to see this woman come out in one whole piece. After all, this chaos was only a transferred burden. From where I stand, Mrs. Idongesit Etiebet has been invaluable as Commissioner for Education, and it will be in the overall interest of the state if she is allowed to continue serving at her best.
