Sule threatens to arrest govt officials over illegal recruitment

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has threatened to hand over suspended officials of the Nasarawa State Teachers’ Service Commission (NSTSC) and top government officials involved in the alleged extortion of money from applicants for employment to security agencies.

Sule handed down the threat after receiving a report of the committee set up to investigate irregularities in the recent recruitment of teachers by the NSTSC, at the Government House on Thursday.

Worried by the enormity of the rust and involvement of his key appointees, Sule said he has no option but to hand over the suspended officials to the security agencies, especially in cases when money was exchanged for appointment letters.

“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, he said the suspended NSTSC officials have not been fair to the state by recruiting 3,277 teachers instead of the 1,000 approved by the government.

“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.

On the fate of the 2,277 teachers recruited without approval, Sule appealed to the people to understand that the future of the children was at stake, not political considerations.

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 to be able to employ 1000 most qualified teachers.

READ ALSO: Sule sets up panel to weed out ghost workers in Nasarawa

Presenting the report, 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 recruited 3,277 teachers without approval from the governor.

“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.”

Dachor added that the recruitment exercise was more or less reduced to a racketeering venture, where desperate and unsuspecting applicants scramble for employment on a cash and carry basis for the highest bidder.

He called on the state government to accept the observations and recommendations made by his committee to restore sanity in the school system.