Nasarawa Govt. to pay off 4,000 embattled teachers – Official

Nasarawa Govt. to pay off 4,000 embattled teachers – Official

The Nasarawa State Government says it would pay the 4,000 embattled teachers who were employed by the State’s Teachers Service Commission (TSC) without due approval.

Mr John Mamman, the Commissioner for Education in the state disclosed this during a ministerial briefing on Monday in Lafia.

The Voice Media Trust (VMT NEWS) recalled that Gov. Abdullahi Sule had approved the employment of 1,000 qualified teachers in the state.

However, the TSC exceeded the approved number, citing pressure from politicians.

The state government cancelled the entire exercise, initiated an investigation and later sacked the management team of the commission.

“The decision to pay the affected teachers is a significant step towards resolving the crisis surrounding their recruitment exercise

“Those who worked will receive payment for the period, while those who only reported to their stations will have N100,000 each,”Mamman said.

The commissioner explained that the government discovered four categories of problems associated with the process, leading to the cancellation of the exercise.

“We discovered that some were posted to various schools and worked for some months, while others were posted and reported but did not work.

“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 approved the recruitment of 1,500 teachers for available vacancies due to retirement, transfer of service, death, among others.

“We gave a fresh opportunity to the 4,000 wrongly employed teachers to participate, but only 781 were qualified and subsequently employed by the consulting firm that handled the recruitment exercise.

“We have also opened the portal to commence the process for the recruitment of more people to make up the required slots approved by the governor,” the commissioner explained.

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Mamman noted the government’s efforts towards addressing the situation demonstrate its commitment to transparency, accountability in the recruitment process and improved standard of education in the state.

The commissioner added that the current administration in the state would continue to prioritise quality education.

He said that the move informed the decision for allocating more funds to the sector since the inception of the administration in 2019.

Earlier, Ibrahim Tanko, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, said that ministerial briefing aimed at enlightening, educating and informing residents of the state about the policies and programmes initiated by the Sule-led administration.

The commissioner added that the move had  provided government officials the opportunity to showcase their achievements so far.

Tanko called on residents of the state to support the current administration in the state to succeed.