Bayelsa threatens to dismiss erring public servants

The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Mr Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, has warned public servants to take their duties seriously or face sanctions, including dismissal.

He gave the warning while receiving a report from the Teachers Redistribution Committee headed by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr Irorodamie Komonibo, at the Government House on Thursday in Yenagoa.

The committee, set up by the deputy governor, was saddled with the responsibility of collecting, sorting and analysing available data with a view to equitably distributing teachers to all public primary schools across the eight local government areas.

Ewhrudjakpo, who described teaching as a serious business that required commitment and dedication, noted that government would not hesitate to deal decisively with truant and unserious teachers.

He stressed that a situation where government employees refuse to go to work with impunity, but draw their monthly salaries without any hindrance was counter-productive and anti-development.

Ewhrudjakpo emphasised the need for workers to embrace accountability and commitment to duty.

His words: “Now that this report is out, I will meet with the various schools and community leaders, possibly ward by ward and hand over the list of teachers posted to them. They have to monitor the teachers.

“If any of them don’t come to work for 15 days without any justifiable reason, he or she will not have salary for that month. If you don’t come for 3 months, we sack you.

“We can’t continue this way believing that accountability is meant for the governor and deputy governor alone to observe and apply.

“We must know that society is not built by the efforts of the leaders alone. It is also built by the efforts of the followers,” he said.

The deputy governor, who expressed gratitude to the committee for doing a thorough job, said the report had justified his belief that the Bayelsa public primary school system was mainly suffering from lopsidedness.

He assured that the present administration would implement all the relevant and necessary recommendations contained in the committee’s report to enable the state government to achieve its set goals in the education sector.

Komonibo advised the state government to formulate and adopt a uniform nominal roll to be used by all public primary schools in Bayelsa.

According to the committee, it has already provided a standard and reliable format of nominal roll for schools to ease the processes for future teacher redistribution and verification exercises.

The Committee also stressed the need for the government to closely monitor the incidences of frequent teacher attrition to address the problem of inequitable distribution of teachers.

According to the report, out of a total of 4,037 teachers available for redistribution found in the nominal rolls of schools as at May 2024; 2,405 were retained in their current schools.

“About 966 were redistributed to schools within the LGAs they teach, while 666 were moved to other LGAs that need them.

“There is need to train officers working in education organs to be abreast with the intricacies of posting.

“Redistribution and reassignment of teachers to ensure equity and fairness to enhance adequate and effective utilization of teachers in schools.

“Service records of all teachers should be updated to avoid errors. To achieve this, a comprehensive re-verification of all public primary school teachers is recommended for immediate action,” the committee added.

The Assistant Secretary of the Committee, Dr Stella Ugolo, appealed to the government to ensure that the appointment and posting of head teachers was done by the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to correct existing anomalies.