Wada sacks SUBEB Chairman, board members

Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada, has dismissed Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Jibrin Usman, from his job.

Wada also sacked other members of the board, and announced — in their place — a six-man interim management committee to run the affairs of the board, under the chairmanship of Mr. Salami Ojonaun.

No reason was given for the action.

Announcing the sack, Mr Jacob Edi, a special adviser to the governor, said the dismissals are with immediate effect, and the sacked officials are to hand over all government property in their possession to the interim chairman.

Other members of the interim committee include Mallam Abubakar Sani, Mr. Elijah Folorunsho, Mr Peter Kinrin, and Mr. Abraham Adavi.

“The interim committee is to quickly effect all payments of salaries of genuine and certified teaching and non-teaching staff under the board’s supervision,” Edi told NAN.

“The committee will clean up the administrative and technical anomalies in the board, with a view to re-positioning it for effective performance.”

Teachers in public primary and junior secondary schools in the state recently protested the non-payment of their February and March salaries by the board.

The teachers, under the aegis of Basic Education Staff Association of Nigeria (BESAN), also accused the board of failing to pay their leave allowances for three years, and failing to promote deserving members.

Responding to the sack of the board, Chairman of BESAN, Mr. Suleiman Adomu, described the dissolution of the board as a welcome development.

Teachers in the state have been vindicated by the governor’s action,” he said, urging the governor to also suspend the education secretaries, accountants and auditors in all the 21 local government councils in the state, and to investigate their activities to rid the sector of corruption.