2027: C'River's Teachers' Kick Against Directive to Endorse Gov Otu

Bassey BASSEY 

Secondary Schools teachers in Cross River have decried the directive by the State's Senior Secondary Education Board (SSEB) to endorse Governor Bassey Otu second term ambition.

We have issues of unpaid salaries, stalled promotions, teacher shortages, and poor school infrastructure, yet all they care about is politics," laments one of the teachers.

THE BEAGLE NEWS gathered that directive to teachers to publicly endorse the second term ambition of the governor came through through the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS).

The directive is contained in a circular No. 08 of 2026, dated May 18, 2026, and signed by the Board Secretary, Prince Lawrence Eyo Nsa, for the Chairman of SSEB.

According to the circular addressed to the President of the ANCOPSS and all principals in the state, the endorsement rally is being organized in recognition of what the board described as the "governor’s people-first impactful governance.

"Commendable innovations and far-reaching education policies deliberately intended to reform the education sector and the secondary education sub-sector.”

The circular stated that the state leadership of ANCOPSS, with the support of SSEB, considered it “expedient” to organise the rally to endorse Governor Otu and his deputy for a second term in office.

The event is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, at the WAPI event center in Calabar by 10:00 a.m.

SSEB further directed all principals across the state to attend the event, while principals in the Southern Senatorial district are specifically instructed to mobilized their teachers for participation.

“Kindly accord this directive with the serious attention it deserves,” the circular directed," concluded the circular.

We have issues of unpaid salaries, stalled promotions, teacher shortages, and poor school infrastructure, yet all they care about is politics," laments one of the teachers.

Reacting, some of the teachers, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, accused the state government of misplaced priority by placing politics above their welfare and educational advancement of the State.

The teachers berated the government of Cross River of neglecting teachers' welfare and infrastructural development of public schools on the alter of politics.

The government should show responsibility towards teachers' welfare and overall development of the State’s educational sector.

A teacher, said : "Politics is a game of interest and our interest as teachers is to support our choice and one who will make us (teachers and education) a priority.

"Why must we be forced to endorse a particular candidate of a political party when we should be allowed to willingly do that on our own?"

Similarly, a teacher described the government as insensitive to the plight of secondary schools teaches in the State.

"Promotions are not regular, no incentive to motivate teachers, and the last minimum wage is yet to be fully implemented.

"Our schools lack teachers. This had presented a situation where one teacher takes many subjects.

"The worse of it is that our schools lack basic facilities; library is just a name with nothing therein, and we lack laboratories," he stated.