The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Anne Odey, has been suspended indefinitely for flouting civil service rules, amid a controversy over ban of morning and afternoon prayer sessions in schools. Mrs. Odey in a statement had directed all private and public primary and secondary schools in the state to stop morning and afternoon devotion forthwith.
According to her, the directives came from the Commissioner of Police, Henry Fadairo, in view of the security challenges facing the nation. On Wednesday, the state Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Archbishop Joseph Ukpo, in a statement, called on the state government to immediately withdraw such directive. The CAN leader said that such directive negated freedom of worship.
But yesterday, Jude Ngaji, the State Security Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade, said the governor was not aware of such directive, neither did the permanent secretary pass such information through the governor or through his office for approval. He said: “The governor has directed that the permanent secretary be suspended indefinitely while the ban on suspension of devotion has been lifted immediately.
It is true that police got intelligence information that Boko Haram is planning to bomb schools during morning devotion and therefore directed authorities in the ministry of education to act fast. But the permanent secretary did not bother to refer to the governor or call for stakeholders’ meeting to that effect. So, the governor feels pained that the permanent secretary got such sensitive information without seeking for his advice and went ahead to issue directive suspending morning devotions in schools.
credit:instablog9ja
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