Governor Abdullahi Sule has inaugurated a four-man committee to investigate irregularities in the recent recruitment of teachers by the Nasarawa State Teachers Service Commission (NSTSC).
Governor Sule inaugurated the committee at a ceremony at the Government House on Thursday.
The governor charged the members of the committee to live above board and to discharge their responsibilities diligently without fear or favour and to justify the confidence reposed in them.
He described as worrisome revelations that officials of government handling the recruitment went overboard to recruit far beyond the number of teachers already approved, leading to the immediate suspension of the chairman and members of the teachers service commission.
“This situation is worrisome and capable of denting the image of the government and indeed of the state, if nothing is done to ensure accountability, transparency and due diligence in the conduct of government business. It is for this reason that it becomes absolutely necessary to constitute this all-important committee to investigate the matter in order to ascertain the claim,” he said.
Governor Sule recounted the efforts of his administration since inception in 2019 towards transforming the educational sector for socioeconomic development of the state, including the setting up of various committees to look into the challenges confronting all the levels of education in the state.
He pointed out that the reports of these committees clearly indicated so much shortfall in the teaching manpower in our secondary schools, aside from the need for infrastructural development.
“The recommendations of these committees resulted in the recruitment of over 8000 teaching and non-teaching staff into our educational system. It is important to state that, even with the recruitment of this number, the government still observes the gap in the teaching personnel in both primary and secondary schools. This informed our decision to give approval for the recruitment of an additional 1000 teaching staff to fill the vacuum in our secondary schools,” he added.
While acknowledging that the approved 1000 teachers were dully recruited and posted to various schools across the state, matters however arose after these workers were paid their first salary.
