According to the great DaVinci, “Nothing strengthens evil more than silence”.
As Deltans we will be silent no more on the evils in the state. The Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori led government of Delta state has treated Deltans, mostly the Ijaws, with utter contempt in the 16 months of his governance. One recent incident that just played out adds more salt to the already sore wound.
Delta State College of Nursing Science advertised and sold admission forms for 15k each, to almost 4,000 applicants, totalling 60 million Naira, at the end of the day only 400 applicants were given admission.
You can imagine the stress and pain it took an Ijaw applicant to get to Asaba to take the examination.
My young niece had to travel from Obotobo in Ogulagha kingdom to Asaba to write the examination. She paid nine thousand Naira to Warri from Obotobo, and paid another seven thousand Naira from Warri to Asaba, totalling 15k, excluding feeding, taxi fare and accommodation.
She was scheduled to write the exams on Friday the 27th of September. She and the thousands of other applicants got to the venue as early as 6:30AM, waited patiently, amidst the struggling and pushing under sun and rain, until 9pm. She was unable to write the exams that day and had to come back the following day on Saturday the 28th of September to write the examination.
After all the efforts and money spent she couldn’t get the admission. She reminisces that during the hectic and almost violent struggle among the candidates to gain access into the hall to write the exams, one of the officials told the candidates that whether they write the examination or not, they will not pass the exam. A clear indication that the examination was just a mere formality, as the list for students cleared to be admitted as those that passed was already compiled. So what is the need of selling thousands of application forms and meting unnecessary hardship on Deltans? This is nothing short of a scam and robbery against citizens of the State by the State.
I am so sad that our Ijaw legislators are so aloof at the suffering of their people.Why can’t the exams be decentralized and conducted in various centres? Maybe Burutu or Warri centres for the Ijaw applicants? Why the long and hectic journey to Asaba?.
At the end of the day the admission slots were shared among the politicians. If the child of a poor Deltan cannot get an admission into our State School of Nursing because he or she does not know the Governor or a politician then the MORE AGENDA of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to all intent and purpose is a ruse.
Pastor Preye Foh wrote from Burutu