Abdullahi Sule condemns ‘irregularities’ in teaching recruitment exercise, mulls fresh hiring

Abdullahi Sule, governor of Nasarawa, has expressed concerns over the alleged irregularities that marred the recruitment of teachers in the state.

Speaking on Friday after getting the report by the committee set up to investigate the alleged irregularities in the recent recruitment of teachers by the Nasarawa State Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Sule said approval was given for the recruitment of 1,000 teachers but 3,277 were hired.

The committee, headed by Silas Dachor, was said to have discovered that extra 2,277 teachers were given employment letters by the TSC — more than the quota approved for the job.

The committee also said that the exercise was not conducted on merit, and reported that it did not reflect the needs of the school system and did not show a fair spread across the local government areas.

Responding to the findings of the committee, the governor further questioned the qualification of the 1,000 approved recruits.

Sule said the government would not be able to meet the financial requirement of employing 3,277 teachers.

“This exercise is a complete destruction. If we employ 3,000 teachers, there is no way any school in the rural areas would have only two or three teachers. We employ people because of vacancies that exist. You can’t go employing teachers without knowing where to post them,” Sule said.

“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.”

The governor said his administration is considering a fresh recruitment exercise to ensure the most qualified 1,000 candidates are employed.

He also said members of the TSC found culpable of extorting the applicants and issuing illegal employment will be reported to the security agencies.

Sule added that the recruits who have already been posted to schools would be paid but not retained.