Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has inaugurated a four-man committee to investigate irregularities in the recent recruitment of teachers by the State Teaching Service Commission (NSTSC).
The committee has a former Permanent Secretary, Mr. Silas Dachor as chairman while Belinda Oyegbenu, the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Manpower Development in the Office of the Head of Civil Service, will serve as secretary.
Other members of the committee include Hajiya Fatu Jimeta, a former Commissioner of Education; and Dr. Yusuf Alfa Danya, a former board chairman of the Federal Polytechnic Baale.
Inaugurating the committee at the Government House in Lafia, the governor charged members to live above board, and to discharge their responsibilities diligently without fear or favour.
The committee which has two weeks to submit its report is mandated to ascertain the recruitment process and the total number of those recruited based on the approval given.
It is also saddled with the task to confirm if there were other teachers recruited outside the approved number and determine those involved with their degree of involvement.
The committee is to also determine the number of teachers posted, the schools they were posted to and if they have resumed in those schools, ascertain the teachers who have been posted and are yet to be paid, with the correspondent financial implications.
The Governor also mandated the committee to determine the financial implications of both paid and unpaid teachers, as well as make any other recommendations that may be relevant to guide government in taking appropriate decisions.
Governor Sule described as worrisome revelations that officials of government handling the recruitment went overboard to recruit far beyond the number of teachers already approved, leading to the immediate suspension of the chairman and members of the Commission.
“This situation is worrisome and capable of denting the image of the government and indeed of the state, if nothing is done to ensure accountability, transparency and due diligence in the conduct of government business.
“It is for this reason that it becomes absolutely necessary to constitute this all-important committee to investigate the matter in order to ascertain the claim,” he said.
He recounted the efforts of his administration since inception in 2019 towards transforming the educational sector for socioeconomic development of the state, including the setting up of various committees to look into the challenges confronting all the levels of education.
He pointed out that the reports of these committees clearly indicated so much shortfall in the teaching manpower in the state’s secondary schools, aside from the need for infrastructural development.
“The recommendations of these committees resulted in the recruitment of over 8,000 teaching and non-teaching staff into our educational system. It is important to state that, even with the recruitment of this number, the government still observes the gap in the teaching personnel in both primary and secondary schools. This informed our decision to give approval for the recruitment of an additional 1,000 teaching staff to fill the vacuum in our secondary schools,” he added.
“While acknowledging that the approved 1,000 teachers were duly recruited and posted to various schools across the state, matters however arose after these workers were paid their first salary.
“I am aware that the recruited 1,000 workers have started enjoying their salaries. It is rather disturbing to note that after the payment of the 1,000 approved teachers, some citizens of the state raised concerns of non-payment of salaries to so many other teachers who have received appointment letters and posted to various schools in the state,” he stated.
