Date: 2016-12-21

Five individuals indicted for illegally recruiting 971 teachers into Kwara State Teaching Service Commission are to face disciplinary action, a government official said on Tuesday.

The Kwara State Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Musa Yeketi, hinted reporters of the development after a State Executive Council meeting.

He said the illegal recruitment had occurred when the government, as part of efforts to cushion the effect of the lack of teachers in some basic subjects in secondary schools, gave approval for the recruitment of 449 teachers.

It was meant to cater for the shortfall of teachers in Mathematics, English and core science disciplines as well as security guards.

The parastatal responsible for the recruitment exercise was later accused of overshooting the number allocated to be employed.

After the report of fraud in the process, the Kwara State government about two months ago set up a committee to verify the illegal recruitment allegation.

The seven-man committee later submitted its report confirming the illegal recruitment of 971 teachers.

The report infuriated Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, who promised to implement the report and recommendations of the committee to the letter, insisting that anyone found guilty would face the full wrath of the law.

Briefing reporters after the State Executive Council meeting, Mr Yeketi announced that the government had accepted to implement the report of the committee and that the five indicted officers would be sanctioned.

According to Mr Yeketi, two of the indicted officers are retired, while the remaining three are still in active service.

The commissioner told reporters that the officials have been referred to the office of the head of service for punishment in accordance with civil service rules.

On the fate of the affected workers, the Commissioner stated that the Council directed that the appointments of the approved 449 staff should be regularised while those of the remaining 971 should be reviewed in line with needs of the commission in the area of Mathematics, English and other core science subjects.

It is not clear how the government would identify teachers illegally recruited, as the recruitment appears to have been done at the same time.