FIC Report (Nasarawa State) – An Investigative Committee constituted by the state government to look into teachers recruitment by the State teachers service commission has uncovered two thousand two hundred and seventy-seven, 2,277, teachers were employed illegally in access of the one thousand which the state government gave approval.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the investigative team, Mr Silas Dachor while presenting the report of their findings to the State Governor Abdullahi Sule in government House, Lafia, the state Capital.
Presenting the report before Governor Sule, Chairman of the investigative committee, Silas Dachor, said the committee discovered that the TSC willfully disobeyed the Governor’s instruction to recruit only 1000 teachers.
The Chairman added that the TSC went ahead to recruit 3, 277 teachers without necessary approval from the Governor.
“Indeed, there are hundreds of others in possession of appointment letters who are yet to be posted. This, to say the least, amounts to gross insubordination to His Excellency and a great disservice to the government and people of Nasarawa State.
While submitting the 25-page report, Dachor called on the state government to accept the observations and recommendations made by his committee with a view to restore sanity in the school system through the crucial steps it has taken to get teacher recruitment right.
“Furthermore, the committee found out that the recruitment did not in any way reflect the needs of the school system. Contrary to the rationale of the exercise, which was to fill existing vacancies.
“We also found out that the exercise did not show a fair spread across local government areas, and worst still, there was no evidence that the recruitment was based on merit. But merely selective, thus edging out other potential candidates,” he said.
Dachor added that the recruitment exercise was more or less reduced to a racketeering venture, where desperate and unsuspecting applicants scramble for employment on cash and carry basis for the highest bidder.
“In relation to this, an Access Bank account was provided for interested applicants who were directed to pay in amounts ranging from N500, 000 to N700, 000 for what was termed appreciation to facilitate issuance of appointment letter,” he said.
He described the recruitment exercise conducted by the suspended NSTSC officials as being characterized by inconsistent documentation, harp hazard and abnormal procedures, and unethical practices, thereby raising serious concerns about transparency, accountability, credibility and fairness.
He thanked Governor Sule for finding members of the committee worthy of the assignment.
Alarmed by scale of misdemeanor contained in the report, Governor Abdullahi Sule threatened to hand over to security agencies suspended officials of the Nasarawa State Teachers’ Service Commission (NSTSC) over alleged extortion of money from applicants for employment.
Governor Sule handed down the threat after being presented with the report by the committee set up to investigate irregularities in the recent recruitment of teachers by the NSTSC, at the Government House.
Alarmed by the enormity of the irregularities, Governor Sule said he is left with no option than hand over the suspended officials to the security agencies, especially that money was collected from the applicants in exchange for appointment letter.
“These people, we would report them to the security agencies. Because this is beyond administration. The aspect of them collecting money from people, I don’t even have the power to handle that. The security agencies should be involved to see how these innocent children should get back their money,” he said.
While expressing dismay over the findings of the investigative committee, the Governor said the suspended NSTSC officials have not been fair to the state because they went overboard to recruit 3, 277 teachers instead of the 1, 000 approved by his administration.
“How do we accommodate 3, 277 teachers today in Nasarawa State? Where are you going to get the money to pay them? Where are you posting them? That is not even the biggest worry. The biggest worry is that the entire exercise was not done on merit, which means we have engaged people who are not qualified to be posted as teachers,” he said.
He expressed concern that the efforts of his administration to improve the standards of education in the state may be jeopardized through unethical conduct as demonstrated by the recent employment of teachers.
“As you all know, Nasarawa State had been just like so many other Northern states. When you come to the standard of education in Nigeria, when they are listing states that are backward in education, Nasarawa State is among. It is a little bit better today. But with this kind of thing, we are not far away from where we used to be,” he added.
On the fate of the 2, 277 teachers recruited without approval, Governor Sule appealed to the people of the state to understand that it is the future of the children of the state that is at stake, not political considerations.
“This exercise is a complete destruction. If we employ 3000 teachers, there is no way any school in the rural areas would have only two or three teachers. We employ people because of vacancies that exist. You can’t go employing teachers without knowing where to post them,” he said.
He also showed concern on the qualifications of the 1000 teachers officially recruited, adding that his administration may consider conducting a fresh selection process for the entire 3, 277 recruited teachers in order to be able to employ 1000 most qualified teachers.
“The most important thing is not about politics but about the education of our own children. This is beyond politics. We are not going to build a society until we have a society of people who are educated. We cannot have a society of educated people unless we have the right teachers,” he stated.
Commenting on one of the recommendations of the committee seeking for the government to pay all those teachers employed and posted to schools, the Governor assured that his administration will pay all those recruited and posted outside the official 1000 and thereafter terminate their appointment.
“I assure you that all those who have been posted to schools, we would pay them. But we would not keep them. There is no way to keep them. If you posted 200 or 300 teachers to a school that requires only 40 teachers, you are really not helping the state. I’m not worried more about that than the fact that they are not qualified. They are not even qualified to be teachers,” he stated.
Governor Sule used the opportunity of the event to show appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing the North Central Development Commission.
“First, let me use this opportunity to express great appreciation to Mr. President for signing into law the North Central Development Commission. It is one Commission that all the states in the North Central, especially Nasarawa State, were looking forward to, and we are happy Mr. President has done it for us, with the capital here in Lafia,” he said.
He equally appreciated the two national assembly members, Senator Abba Moro and Hon. J. J. Umaru for concurrently sponsoring the NCDC bill on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, as well as the North Central caucus of National Assembly and all others who worked very hard to ensure that that bill become a reality.
The Governor equally expressed appreciation to the chairman and members of the investigative committee for their dedication, commitment, expertise and the amount of time they have put into their assignment to ensure that the enormity of the work did not deter them from carrying out a comprehensive exercise.
Signed
ARI, LIMAN AMINU.
HEAD OF CENTRE,
FIC, LAFIA.
