By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The Executive Chairman of the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board D-SUBEB Hon Samuel Mariere ,has strongly rejected claims of financial malfeasance and corruption against his management.
The Source reports that there have been a plethora of allegations suggesting that the Executive chairman,using some staff as proxies have been fleecing the Board’s contractors , forcing them to part with humongous amounts as gratifications before being patronized.
The Board, also, is being accused of unbridled indulgence in contract-spliting using some insiders.
But in an interactive session with the Media on Thursday August 21, 2025 in Asaba, the State capital, Hon. Mariere described the allegations as false, malicious and baseless.
This is just as he maintained that his management has since its inception cultivated a zero-tolerance approach to corruption in keeping with the policy thrust of the administration of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
“In the last few days, certain claims have been in circulation particularly in the social media, alleging that contractors are being compelled to monies ranging from N 100,000 to N 300,000, depending on the negotiating powers of each contractor and the value of the contract.
“Also ,that monies are collected by staff of the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics, and subsequently remitted to me through some named individuals.
“There is no iota of truth in the entire concoctions. The allegations are false, malicious, baseless and targeted at distracting the Board”, Mariere noted.
According to him, all contractors whose jobs fall within the over, 90% of those completed have been paid without any strings attached.
The Board Chairman, a former Member of the Delta State House of Assembly, emphasized that in paying the contractors, he is not aware of complaint about any staff demanding to be given a percentage of what were paid out to contractors.
He challenged critics to avail themselves the Board’s payment documents if in doubt about its claims of transparency and accountability.
” I want to say at this point that neither me as a person, nor any of the staff of the Board, to the best of my knowledge has ever requested, nor received gratification from contractors as being alleged by some persons in the social media.
“All our processes are well documented, auditable and above all open to Independent verification at anytime.
“Let me say at this point that the Board will, however, not be distracted by the antics of those propagating falsehood.
“We are more than ever focused on transforming the system, particularly, our classrooms, ensuring the availability of qualified teachers, text books etc in our educational system”, Hon Mariere noted.
According to him, while a total of 5,511 teachers have undergone training and retraining programmes, over 491 classrooms have been renovated.
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