By Tina George, Minna
Prospective primary school teachers in Niger state are currently in a fix over the names of successful candidates so far released by the Niger state Universal Basic Education Board (NSUBEB).
Newsdiaryonline gathers that the released names have no identification number attached to them, a situation that is currently causing hiatus across the state as numerous candidates are laying claim to one name or the other.
Niger state is a state whereby people use similar names in most communities.
In Chachanga, Bosso, Suleja, Kontagora, and Bida local government areas, it was gathered that most of the names were being claimed by three to four people.
Further investigations by Newsdiaryonline revealed that some other candidates who got their appointment letters, were selling the letters for a large sum of money.
The sale of the appointment letters may have risen from the fact that the members of the House of Assembly have called for the suspension of the release of appointment letters and conduct a new screening exercise.
It was also gathered that due to some irregularities in the appointment and the threat of re-screening by the state House of Assembly, a lot of candidates have begun selling their appointment letters for amount ranging from N50,000 to N100,000.
This was confirmed by the Chairman, Committee on Labour and Productivity in the Niger state House of Assembly, Honorable Malik Madaki Bosso, who further accused NSUBEB of recruiting teachers who did not sit for the recruitment examination.
According to Bosso, majority of the people who participated in the examination did not see their names while the majority of those whose names appeared were those who did not undergo the examination.
He further said that the names were released without identification number which leads to a group of persons claiming one name.
“The names that appeared as being successful in the recruitment exercise have no security attached to it. You know in Niger state, you can see about ten people bearing the same name, it is common in the state.
“In this situation, anyone can lay claim on the name especially as everybody is claiming the name belongs to him/her. The name should give had an identification number which should either be their examination number or registration number, a certain number that was used for registration but this was not done.
“I have had complaints from people from Suleja, Chachanga, Bosso, Bida and other constituencies. Like in Chachanga, there is a name Suleiman Abubakar and currently, three people are claiming the name and there is no way one is certain that the name belongs to any of them because there is no security attached to it”, he said.
He further said that the joint committees of Labor and Productivity and Education have called on SUBEB to put a hold to the release of appointment letters adding that the Committed has resolved that a documentation committee is set up to conduct screening and verification of the candidates.
“We have concluded that there must be a documentation committee which will have a representative of the local government council Director of Personnel, the member of the House of Assembly of that constituency and the Education Secretary.
“The Committee would be responsible for the documentation of the candidates from each local government council and verify the indigene letters of the candidates. This is because this employment is mainly for indigenes of Niger state.”
Also speaking on the matter, the Chairman, Niger State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Honorable Suleiman Gambo Rabiu noted that NSUBEB had been directed to stop the release of the appointment letters but the Agency paid no heed to the directive.
“We are the ones who approve and appropriate the funds that will be used to pay these teachers so we do not see any reason why we see any we see irregularities in the recruitment process and give a directive and the directive would be disrespected.”
Rabiu further disclosed that he had heard reports of some of the candidates seeking transfer to other local government areas despite the fact that they were yet to start documentation.
“Presently, even before the documentation, these prospective employees have started moving for transfer of their appointments because they are not the original indigent of the local government they were given an appointment.
“Others have started lobbying that they are transferred back to some local government areas. There are a lot of problems in the process. Due process was not followed.”
The Legislator said that in order to avoid canceling the recruitment exercise, the Committed decided that a Committee for documentation and verification is set up in all the local government council.
“Those documented and justified by the committee will then be given appointment letters with their identification number. During the screening, these candidates will have to justify how they got the appointment letters to ensure that they did not buy it. Those who got clearer will continue with their appointment exercise.”
Efforts to get the Secretary of the Niger state Universal Basic Education Board proved abortive as he neither picked his calls neither were text messages sent to him replied.
