In an interview with Iduh Onah and Amos Aar on June 8, 2022 in his office at NKST Secretariat in Mkar, Gboko, Reverend Moses Saawuan Akem, Education Secretary of NKST Worldwide spoke on how the NKST Church emerged, its dedication to education provisioning and the current issues and challenges facing education in Benue State such as levies, deductions, and disagreements between the government and mission school owners over the return of their schools to them. Excerpts:
National Record (NR): May we meet you, sir.
Rev. Akem: You are meeting Reverend Moses Saawuan Akem, NKST Education Secretary worldwide.
NR: Sir, we have information and we have seen physical evidence that NKST provides huge infrastructure in Education, provides services in teaching apart from its missionary activities. Of course, you also know that providing education is the function of government but NKST took it up since its founding to engage in this service to society. How many schools has NKST; secondary schools, to be specific?
Rev. Akem: Thank very much. NKST started when the Dutch Reformed Missionary came into Tivland in 1911. When they came, they came along with Bible schools. Bible schools were opened as a way of attracting people to Christianity. So they opened Bible schools in Tivland so as to preach to people through the Bible schools. you learn the Bible, you learn to read, you learn to write. Those Bible schools eventually turned into primary schools. Before leaving, they opened many Bible schools and when they left, we turned them into primary schools and we have over 500 public primary schools that bear NKST name.
They started secondary schools as well. By then, they had about three secondary schools when they started. They started Girls Secondary School in Uvande that is still functional today; they started a Teaching Training College at Mkar; they started Bristow Secondary School, Gboko. Out of the three, when they were about to leave in the early ’60s, and when NKST had her own autonomy in 1957, NKST continued with what with what the mission started.
Some of the missionaries that stayed back to assist the NKST grow were assisting NKST in the opening of schools. That was when NKST Secondary School, Adikpo came in; NKST Secondary School Zaki-Biam came in, NKST Secondary School, Saai came in, NKST Secondary School Vandeikya came in, NKST Korinya came – about seven secondary schools came in when the missionaries were still working with us; a few of them that were left behind to assist NKST.
As I’m talking to you today, the Government of Benue State, under Governor Aper Aku, gave the NKST a free license to open more schools, and we opened about eight secondary schools at once including those ones the missionaries started, and the legacy ones. The legacy ones are our Uvande Girls Secondary School, the Teachers College and Bristow secondary School; they are the legacy schools the missionaries left us with.
“At present, government is only sending its teachers to our schools and paying them. It’s unfortunate that the teachers have really reduced in population. There is no any other grant that we receive from government in as much as government is saying these are grant-aided schools.”
Those we started on our own were about seven and Aper Aku added eight again. As I am talking to you, we have over 56 secondary schools across Benue State. That is where we are now, as far as education in NKST is concerned. We have some in Taraba State, we have some in Nasarawa State that are still going on.
As at I talk to you, I supervise over 56 secondary schools; some are struggling, actually because of some reasons as it affects even the government, community and other missionary schools. Population has really reduced in our schools because of certain reasons – mushroom schools are plenty with less charge. Somebody will go and open a school even if it is in a block of a plot of land without following any due process in opening a school. So, the emergence of many public schools and mushroom schools has caused reduction in population so much and because of financial aspect as well. These are some of the reasons why our schools have low population of students, but we are still moving.
“I have a secondary school that government is grant-aiding, it’s just the principal and two other teachers. For example, NKST Secondary School, Wuese, I have only 3 government teachers. At Bristow which is a big school, we have about over seventy-something teachers but government teachers are not up to 25, out of seventy-something. Adikpo Secondary School is one of my biggest secondary schools in Zone A. Government teachers were just 19 by then but now they have retired and moved; I don’t think I can count about 16 teachers there out of sixty-something teachers I have. So, we are not feeling the impact of grant-aiding by the state government as at now.”
There are some of them that we have provided accommodation as boarding facilities and they attract a lot of population, like Bristow Secondary School and Adikpo; we run away from population; every academic session we are admitting students, we run away from students. We just have written NKST Unified Common Entrance Examination to admit students to JSS 1. Pupils that wrote for admission at Bristow Secondary School are over 500, but we don’t admit more than 200. At the end we may admit just about 200 students as we are not able to admit all of them. But in some areas, we didn’t record up to ten students that wrote the exams, in some, 20, because of the mushroom schools, I’m telling you and may be because of the facilities we are providing in those schools. So, this is what is happening in NKST Education especially in the area of secondary schools.
We have other areas like the tertiary but that is not your focus, so I am not going to speak on that; I am speaking on your area of focus, secondary schools.
NR: Out of these 56 schools, how many are grant-aided? Or are all of them grant-aided by government?
Rev. Akem: No, we have just 18 grant-aided secondary schools, just 18.
NR: What is the nature of the aid received from government for these grant-aided secondary schools. I mean, what does the government provide in the name of this aid?
Rev. Akem: At present, government is only sending its teachers to our schools and paying them. It’s unfortunate that the teachers have really reduced in population. There is no any other grant that we receive from government in as much as government is saying these are grant-aided schools. If they send you 5 teachers, that’s the essence of grant-aiding.
Last year, the Benue State Government took a decision to return our schools back to us so that we can manage and employ our teachers ourselves. When we were looking at the government teachers we have in our schools, we really laughed! We said government, you are not providing teachers.
“But now, TSB has come to say they are collecting all those levies; and we ask, for what? You’re collecting maintenance fees from us, the fees we’re collecting from students; we’re paying you TSB this money for what; what are we paying you this money for? What are you going to maintain? Is it maintaining the teachers?”
I have a secondary school that government is grant-aiding, it’s just the principal and two other teachers. For example, NKST Secondary School, Wuese, I have only 3 government teachers. At Bristow which is a big school, we have about over seventy-something teachers but government teachers are not up to 25, out of seventy-something. Adikpo Secondary School is one of my biggest secondary schools in Zone A. Government teachers were just 19 by then but now they have retired and moved; I don’t think I can count about 16 teachers there out of sixty-something teachers I have. So, we are not feeling the impact of grant-aiding by the state government as at now. The name grant-aided attracts only teachers they send to us.
NR: In many of the schools that we visited, including Catholic schools, and in our interaction with the Education Secretary, Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, we gathered that TSB charges levies on students at all government and grant-aided schools. For instance, a student pays N80 as sports levy, N500 for quality assurance, N500 for ICT. There are other levies, like maintenance and workshop, being paid to government. For what purpose are these levies? In many of the schools we visited and are grounded, what is ‘maintenance’ when you pay maintenance and government doesn’t send anything and there’s education budget. So, we want to know if NKST gets any funding from the government?
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Rev. Akem: Well, it’s unfortunate that that is happening. We’re in a union, we’re working together as a bloc, as faith-based schools. The ES [Education Secretary] of Otukpo Catholic Diocese is one of us; I’m their chairman. This is our biggest problem with the Benue State Government; the levies they are collecting.
Now, the TSB is pioneering, it’s getting fund more than even the Ministry of Education, in collecting these taxes, those taxes that were meant for the ministry that we told the then Commissioner [of Education], and we wrote through our leader to the governor, that we would not be paying these levies because we are helping the government in providing education. So, why should we be collecting these levies and taxes from poor parents, students, and paying you, government, and we said we’re assisting you.
But now, TSB has come to say they are collecting all those levies; and we ask, for what? You’re collecting maintenance fees from us, the fees we’re collecting from students; we’re paying you TSB this money for what; what are we paying you this money for? What are you going to maintain? Is it maintaining the teachers?
Before, government collects maintenance fees to assist schools, maintain those schools, maintain blocks [of buildings]. If there is a block that is needed in the school, government would go on and assist. That thing is no longer happening. We’re not receiving any assistance from government in terms of structures nor in terms of providing books, nor in terms of providing anything or chalk, nothing concerning materials – books or what? So, what are you collecting this money for?
It was a point between us, the faith-based schools, and the TSB. We decided to just leave it like that for a while to move ahead but we’re not okay with it, the faith-based schools. We have a meeting we call Forum of Mission Education Secretaries, we meet together, all the education secretaries and the Board chairman, we meet together under the umbrella of the forum of Mission Education Secretaries and I chair them. That [levies] has been our problem with government.
When we went to Otukpo, there was a place [school] Father Francis Atama told us that it is a grant-aided school and it is only the principal that is a government teacher or TSB teacher there, but government is claiming, collecting maintenance fee from that school; for what reason? So, as I was telling them, I have about fifty-something secondary schools, those government grant-aided are 18, the rest we cater for them ourselves and they are doing very well.
NR: Of the schools, the 18 are the only ones you pay all these levies?
Rev. Akem: Yes.
NR: We gathered from Rev. Fr. Atama that in a whole year, the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo pays twenty-two million naira to the state government and that when they threatened to stop pay the government, WAEC and NECO said they were not releasing their students. Do you also have that problem?
Rev. Akem: If I will calculate, I will say the same thing Father Francis said but I have not calculated because of those taxes we pay them and they’ve connived with the examination bodies like WAEC and NECO. WAEC will require you to get a clearance from Ministry of Education before you come to register your students with them. NECO would want you to have clearance certificate from Ministry of Education before you come to them to register your students. So, now, the ministry has the opportunity and the chance to request you to pay all the taxes; and if you don’t pay this, they [ministry] will not give you clearance certificate before you go to WAEC. So, that is why WAEC has a connection with us.
NR: What about your schools that are not grant-aided? Do you also subscribe through TSB or the government before registering the students?
Akem: Those that are un-grant-aided, they don’t have much problem like that, but you are supposed to go to Ministry of Education to get a clearance, because before you will be a school that will take certificate examination, Ministry of Education must give you approval; you must have phase 3 approval and phase 4 approval before you write examination. So, they will require you to go to Ministry of Education.
The exemption and the little space for un-grant-aided schools that is to say that they have nothing to do with TSB. TSB deals with schools that are grant-aided because they give them teachers, because they give them principals.
“We made it a point of complaint during Prof [Dennis] Ityavyar’s regime. We told him it’s illegal deducting somebody’s salary. Sometimes a principal is going home with nothing or N6,000 because of the deductions from TSB. We complained, he has to call ES, Executive Secretary [of TSB] to come and have meeting with us and we concluded that no, they should stop, but they continued to deduct.”
A grant-aided school must have a principal from TSB, so if you don’t pay, they will deduct your salary as principal up-front; once they are paying, they are deducting; that you have about so, so students, you were supposed to pay sports fees or this, you’re supposed to pay quality assurance, you were supposed to pay maintenance fee of six hundred naira times so, so number of students, so come and pay. As you didn’t pay, they will deduct from your salary.
So those un-grant-aided [schools] have anything to do with TSB, so they don’t deduct their money but there are some payments they have to make to the Ministry of Education; so, Ministry of Education will get hold of them, maybe ICT; they will say you must pay ICT before you will go to register your students, they will not give you the clearance. It’s not always much on them, the un-grant-aided, there is less to them because they go only to Ministry of Education.
“We have taken this problem to respective government agencies; we reported it to ES himself, we complained to him; and the Commissioner himself and even the SSG. We even asked our leaders, our Bishops and our Church Heads to write to the governor and they wrote, but there is no response, the act continues. Deduction of principals’ salaries is one of the illegal things, so bad that we are getting in the system, it’s so bad!”
But grant-aided schools have problem with TSB and they have problem with Ministry of Education. TSB has to clear you to give you a letter to Ministry of Education or a certificate that you have cleared with them; that you have paid all the levies. Then you will move to Ministry and the person in charge will check you and clear you and give you a clearance that you have cleared with them before you move to NECO.
NR: I was coming to this issue of deductions from principals’ salaries but now that you have explained it, the question I will now ask is, given this situation that even secondary school officials are crying, in terms of deductions and payment of levies, has there been any effort to find out how this thing is done in some other states, for instance, your neighbours, Nasarawa, Enugu and others?
Rev. Akem: What Benue State Government is doing, we can’t see it in Nasarawa State, we can’t see it in Enugu State, we can’t see it around these states. We made it a point of complaint during Prof [Dennis] Ityavyar’s regime. We told him it’s illegal deducting somebody’s salary. Sometimes a principal is going home with nothing or N6,000 because of the deductions from TSB. We complained, he has to call ES, Executive Secretary [of TSB] to come and have meeting with us and we concluded that no, they should stop, but they continued to deduct.
“But the Benue one, the way they were planning, because I was in the planning with them also. In the planning was that government will reduce their hand in grant-aiding us. Government will allow us to employ our teachers and government will be reducing small, small in giving us teachers until they finish from our schools. If I have 15 teachers in a school and three retire, government will not add again; and if three die, government will not replace them again, and two resign for an appointment you will not replace them until they finish, and then we will be employing teachers ourselves until government teachers finish.”
The present ES [Executive Secretary of TSB] said he will deduct, that he has agreed to deduct from salaries. So, principals are crying with us that they are deducting their salaries. The unfortunate thing is that you will be a principal in a school where the school is not raising that kind of money, where you have employed teachers; we call them PTA teachers. Once you are not a government teacher, you are a PTA teacher. That means, it is the money that is coming from the parents plus those ones of the school that you will pay that teacher. Sometimes we use the PTA money to donate small and we use the schools’ maintenance fee and add up to pay teachers. So, from the little resources you are getting as school fees, you’re paying those teachers as your PTA staff and they are deducting your money. Now, you have the problem of recovering your money as a principal and you have the problem of paying these PTA teachers.
So, most of them are not comfortable with the principalship now, they say what is it for? When people collect salaries and we have nothing! When I come to school, there is nothing, and I have children in school, what will I do? That is the complaint of most of them and that is our problem.
We have taken this problem to respective government agencies; we reported it to ES himself, we complained to him; and the Commissioner himself and even the SSG. We even asked our leaders, our Bishops and our Church Heads to write to the governor and they wrote, but there is no response, the act continues. Deduction of principals’ salaries is one of the illegal things, so bad that we are getting in the system, it’s so bad!
NR: In our engagement with Rev. Fr. Atama, he talked about an Anambra model where mission schools and some grant-aided schools are gradually handed over to the owners with the government withdrawing. But he said the Benue State Government doesn’t seem to be interested that model. Is there no direct engagement with the governor on the particular issue of adopting the Anambra model?
Rev. Akem: The Anambra model is so excellent because I worked with them when I was in government. I know how they did the handover, government did the handover and gives them assistance, as we call grants. Government gives them subventions to run these schools.
But the Benue one, the way they were planning, because I was in the planning with them also. In the planning was that government will reduce their hand in grant-aiding us. Government will allow us to employ our teachers and government will be reducing small, small in giving us teachers until they finish from our schools. If I have 15 teachers in a school and three retire, government will not add again; and if three die, government will not replace them again, and two resign for an appointment you will not replace them until they finish, and then we will be employing teachers ourselves until government teachers finish.
That was the plan and in it, we said government should be supporting the missions, the private owners in running these schools because we are assisting government in giving education to the state’s citizens because it is the duty of government to train her own citizens. So, as we are assisting government, government should also assist us in giving grants; That is what was contained in the white paper government had with us, because government set up a committee that was made up of government representatives, missions themselves and private individuals and other associations and came out with that white paper. But they were not ready.
At a certain time, Prof Ityavyar, the former [education] commissioner, just announced to us that by August 1st, 2021, he will be packing all the teachers, and that is handover. We said that is not handover! So, we moved and reported this case to the governor. We went along with all our Church leaders, the proprietors, all the Bishops and President of NKST we went to see the governor and the governor said, no, no; he cannot entertain that; that he can’t struggle with his constituency; his constituency is the Christians. He asked what do we want and we said he should follow the right procedure to do the handover.
If we are controlling our schools with his assistance, it’s okay, we will take over our schools and we will control them. Government said it’s okay, we should go back to the drawing board to move to the right procedure for smooth handover.
The requirements in the white paper require that the Benue State Education Law must be reviewed; will be reviewed to suit the handover; those things the white paper said will be included in the education law and then we will take the law to the state [House of] Assembly. The state assembly will go through it and then pass it to be a law and then the handover will take place, that was the requirement. And then they kept it, I don’t know what is happening, they have never called me for a meeting any longer but that is where it died. We wanted the Anambra situation in Benue State. If really Benue State government really wants to handover schools, then it should apply the Anambra system. The Anambra system is very perfect!
NR: Sorry, let me take you back a little, just a follow-up on what you said about the dwindling population of students in your schools. We know that it is when schools have a good population of students that their income becomes reasonable. So, if I heard you clearly, you mentioned that the charges of private schools are lower than your schools; so, in order to survive, can you also cut down your charges?
Rev. Akem: No, get me right; I said mushroom schools that are rising, they arise with little charges so as to attract population. Private owners who have taken the right way to open schools, their fees are even higher than we the missionaries.
Like I have Bristow secondary School; it is a very big secondary school. Vatiya is there, Vatiya cannot compete with Bristow, but you know how much Vartiya is paying; about one hundred and something [thousand naira]. How much are we collecting at Bristow for boarding fees; it is just forty-five thousand [naira] as a Christian school. But somebody who wants to get population also is opening a school as a mushroom school near Bristow; he can say come and pay three thousand [naira]; admission is free, and then people will be taking their children there. I am saying they have emerged and they are plenty. It is not every private school. Somebody who has taken step to operate a private school genuinely cannot charge like that; what will you do, will you not pay teachers.
NR: Father Atama described the mushroom schools as schools in uncomplete buildings.
Rev. Akem: Yes, exactly; they are schools in uncompleted buildings. The catholic and NKST, I don’t think we are charging much. Queens of Rosary, a Catholic school in Gboko here that is a very viable one, I think their school fee is about sixty thousand [naira]including everything, boarding and our own is about forty-something, Bristow is another viable school. But somebody who has opened a private school, I used to tell them; my brother has a private school in Adikpo, Wantu. The fee Wantu collects is more than the one I’m collecting in NKST Secondary School, Adikpo, because it is a genuine private secondary school. For somebody who opens a mushroom school in an uncompleted building around Wantu and around NKST Adikpo will be charging a small school fee so that parents can leave Wantu and leave NKST Adikpo and come to their school. That is what I was saying.
NR: What is your message for the Benue public?
Rev. Akem: I am calling on the government and good spirited individuals to assist us, the missions in the good cause of providing education. The work of providing education for the common man is in the hands of the Church, the church started it. Benue State cannot boast of any school in those days. The first higher institution in Benue State was established by NKST. NKST started education in Benue State before government came from behind.
At a certain time, Prof Ityavyar, the former [education] commissioner, just announced to us that by August 1st, 2021, he will be packing all the teachers, and that is handover. We said that is not handover! So, we moved and reported this case to the governor. We went along with all our Church leaders, the proprietors, all the Bishops and President of NKST we went to see the governor and the governor said, no, no; he cannot entertain that; that he can’t struggle with his constituency; his constituency is the Christians. He asked what do we want and we said he should follow the right procedure to do the handover.
We need good spirited individuals and the government to assist the church in the cause of education. We have so many schools, we want them to prosper to help those communities where there is not much education. If there is school in those places, maybe it is established by those looking for money; the Church is not looking for money from their schools at all. The Church is looking at the common man to have access to education. Once you have access to education, you have access to Christianity, that’s the way the missionaries taught us. The brought education to attract people and get them to Christ. So, we still have it in mind, and if the government can assist us, not to leave us with it like this; not to look for money from us to give them, the Government. The government should look for money to assist us in educating the common man, the Benue child. That is my own appeal.
NR: Thank you very much Reverend.
Akem: You are welcome, it is a pleasure.
