Governor Emmanuel opens up on sacked 5000 teachers …Says recruitment process was faulty

Governor Udom Emmanuel has again warned that his administration was not ready to bow to sentiments in ensuring that the right decisions are made in the interest of the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Governor Emmanuel who spoke to journalists on arrival from an official engagement in Abuja, explained that his government decided to cancel the last teachers’ recruitment exercise after uncovering the illicit activities of a syndicate that was behind the issuance of fake appointment letters to thousands of unqualified applicants.

He said after futile attempts to manage the situation, he found it necessary to cancel to recruitment because of the lapses noticed in the foundation of the recruitment process.

In his words, “even the bible says if the foundation is not right, what can the righteous man do? We have tried to see how we could get something out of that recruitment process, but believe me, the foundation was very faulty.”

“If we are putting people to teach our children, please let us leave sentiments apart and go for the right people. We need to make sure they went through the right process and have the right qualifications.”

For the affected 5000 persons, Governor Emmanuel reassured that they stood a better chance of being employed in the subsequent recruitment exercise should they meet the basic requirements of teaching.

It was discovered that the syndicate which had since been apprehended was involved in printing fake letters of appointment and fake school certificates at outrageous amounts ranging from 150,000 to 200,000 naira.

“We are assuring the 5000 people that they need not worry, when we are calling for aptitude test, you need not re-apply, just walk into the venue of the exercise with that appointment letter and justify that you are qualified to teach our children.

He maintained that those making the noise over the cancellation are likely those with the fake appointment letters, insisting that anyone qualified with a school certificate would always be ready to defend his qualification.