Nasarawa Govt to pay off 4000 embattled teachers
By Faith AM
The Nasarawa State Government has decided to pay off the more than 4000 embattled teachers who were employed without due approval as a significant step towards resolving the crisis surrounding their recruitment.
Commissioner for Education, John Mamman, announced this on Monday in Lafia during a ministerial briefing organised by the Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, Ibrahim Tank to enable government officials to showcase their achievements.
John explained that the problem of the affected persons started when the sacked management of Nasarawa State Teachers Service Commission exceeded the recruitment figure of 1,000 teachers approved by Gov. Abdullahi Sule.
He added that so many discoveries were made and the issue concerning the involvement of each of the sacked management was ongoing to unravel their involvement in the scandal for onward action.
The Education Commissioner added that the government discovered four categories of problems associated with the affected persons and cancelled the whole exercise.
“We discovered that some were posted and had worked for some months, and others were posted and reported but did not work, and others were posted but refused to report and the records of the last group could not be found anywhere.
“To address the issue, the governor has approved the recruitment of 1500 persons to fill the vacancies that exist as a result of retirement, transfer of service and death, among others.
“We gave a fresh opportunity to the 4000 wrongly employed to participate, but only 781 were found qualified and were subsequently employed by the consulting firm handling the recruitment exercise.
“We have opened the portal to commence the process for the recruitment of more people to complete the 1500 teachers slots approved by the governor,” the Commissioner said.
He further explained that the government decided that those who had worked for some months would be paid for that period, while those who only reported to their stations would be paid N100,000 each.
Mamman noted that the government’s efforts to address the situation demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability in the recruitment process for optimal performance to ensure a better standard of education in the state.
The Commissioner further explained that education is the topmost priority of the Gov. Sule-led administration which is why it was allocated the highest amount in the state’s budget since the inception of the administration in 2019.
He therefore, assured that the government would construct more structures and equip them at all levels of education and engage in massive training and restraining of manpower for the overall development of the sector.
On his part, Tanko, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said that his ministry had created a lot of avenues, including the ministerial briefing, to enlighten, educate and inform the public about the policies, programmes and projects embarked on by the present administration in the state.
He used the medium to appeal to the public, especially those from communities where schools and other facilities are provided, to take ownership and ensure its protection against criminals, vandals and saboteurs.
The information commissioner further announced that the governor had approved N5.6 billion for the digitalisation of the state-owned media house, Nasarawa Broadcasting Service for better output in line with global standards.
He said that the government is already expecting the equipment for the total switchover to arrive in the country and pledged to train the staff of the station to build their capabilities to handle the gadgets.
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