Fayose flays Buhari’s support for mass sacking of teachers in Kaduna

Why I rejected governor’s car gift, by Oni

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has condemned President Muhammadu Buhari’s support for the mass sacking of teachers in Kaduna State. His Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, disclosed this in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday.

He said: “By openly supporting the sacking of about 22,000 teachers in the state, President Buhari has approved job losses as the official policy of the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is contrary to the party’s promise of creating three million jobs per year for Nigerians.”

The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had announced that the teachers failed a competency test conducted by the government.Fayose reiterated his commitment to the welfare of workers in Ekiti State, adding: “Not minding the state’s inability to pay salaries promptly due to the paucity of funds, I will not sack workers under any guise.”

The governor said it was sad that Buhari could support throwing about 22,000 teachers into the labour market, after his government’s policies had forced many companies to fold up.He said the president’s position is a sign for labour leaders in the country to brace up for mass sacking of workers in the APC-led states.

Fayose explained: “In Ekiti State, the immediate past APC government used competency test to demote many secondary school principals, vice principals and primary school head teachers, leading to the sudden death of many of them. The government then tried to force the competency test on the teachers, which they resisted.

“Today, students in Ekiti are still being taught by the same teachers who the APC government said were not competent. The students were the ones whose performance gave the state first position in the National Examinations Council (NECO) in 2016 and 2017.

“The state also moved from 26 per cent performance in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in 2014, to 36.5 per cent in 2015, 42 per cent in 2016 and 74.86 percent in 2017.

Fayose urged the governors on the APC platform to learn how to use teachers to get optimum performance from students, rather than hiding under competency test to sack them.

While noting that it was not right for any state government to set examinations for teachers, Fayose said: “The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria was established to regulate the teaching profession.”

Meanwhile, former governor of the state, Segun Oni, has explained why he rejected the N52 million Prado Jeep presented to him by Fayose.He disclosed this yesterday through the Director General of the Segun Oni Campaign Organisation, (SOCO), Dr. Ife Arowosoge.

Oni, who is the Deputy Chairman, South, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said it was wrong for Fayose to give him a Jeep worth N52million, at a time when the workers and pensioners had not been paid for several months.

Arowosoge, who spoke during the inauguration of the advisory committee, said: “Fayose meant well with the gift, but, why did he have to wait till this time, when he has less than one year before leaving office.”