…N600bn was in Rivers account at handover, says Speaker
…Fubara: School infrastructure decline is not recent, says Fubara
Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Speaker of the House of Assembly Martins Amaewhule have clashed over the worsening condition of public primary and secondary schools across the state.
The Speaker, addressing lawmakers during plenary, accused the executive of abandoning critical education infrastructure, leaving many schools in what he described as “deplorable and embarrassing” shape.
Amaewhule said the Assembly’s Committee on Education reported that some schools now rely on a single teacher to handle two classes simultaneously due to acute staff shortages.
He said: “Public schools in Rivers State, especially at the primary and secondary levels, are in deplorable condition. One teacher is teaching two classes in one room. While teaching Primary One, Primary Two pupils listen. Then the teacher switches. They are all in the same classroom — no toilet, no electricity — yet the school shares a fence with PHED headquarters. No security. Vandals have taken over the place and destroy what is left.
“We raised these issues earlier. Nothing has happened.”
The Speaker faulted the executive council for allegedly ignoring the Assembly’s resolutions and refusing to address the crisis.
“The Rivers State Executive Council has not done anything to remedy the situation,” he said. “Our schools cannot remain like this. The last administration conducted interviews to employ about 10,000 workers. What happened to that? Teachers are not being hired, yet money appears when it is time to mobilise people for protest.”
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He described the situation as “an aberration,” querying how any state in 2025 could have classrooms without teachers or rely on passers-by to teach pupils.
Amaewhule warned that the Assembly would no longer tolerate what he called “official indolence,” insisting that lawmakers must act on complaints from concerned parents.
“We cannot fold our arms while our children suffer and teachers cry,” he said. “Something must be done.”
The speaker said there was no reason for such abandonment disclosing that the former Sole Administrator, Rear Admiral Ibok Ibas left over N600bn in the coffers of the state.
He said, “We are the only people mandated by law to fight for our parents. Parents are crying. The complaints we are getting, the pictures they are sending to us are coming from parents from Township School 2.
“The other day somebody went to a school in Etche and saw children inside the classroom with even weed on their roof. How the weed went to their roof and they are learning under I don’t imagine. I’m trying to remember the name of that community now. It is appalling.
“Is it that we don’t have funds in the state? Of course we have! As at the time the administrator, Ibas was leaving, he left over N600 billion in the accounts of Rivers State. Over N600 billion by October, can’t such funds be used to remedy the situation in our schools?”.
But Fubara while replying Amaewhule said that improving the poor state of education in Rivers State was a top priority of his administration, announcing that the sector would receive the largest allocation in the 2026 budget.
The governor spoke while declaring open the 123/124 combined quarterly meeting of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers in Port Harcourt.
He admitted that many schools across the state were in bad shape but stressed that the decay did not happen overnight.
According to him, the deterioration predated his government and was one of the major issues used by opponents during the 2023 election campaigns.
The governor said his team was working strategically to reverse the decline, noting that his background in public administration guided his approach to planning and reform.
On healthcare, the governor pointed to the ongoing upgrade of zonal hospitals and other interventions in the healthcare workers welfare as evidence of improved service delivery in the sector.
Speaking on employment, Fubara said the government remained committed to creating jobs but insisted that recruitment, including the anticipated 10,000 openings, would be based on the needs of the state, adding that the exercise would not be politicised.
Monday’s meeting, which was the 3rd and 4th combined session of the year and the fourth since he assumed office, also provided an opportunity for Fubara to commend traditional rulers for their role in resolving the political impasse that once threatened stability in the state.
