Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has shed light on why his administration recently sacked the Chairman of the State Teaching Service Commission (TSC) over what he described as an unauthorised and fraudulent recruitment of more than 4,200 teachers.
The governor said the TSC boss defied the initial approval to recruit 1,000 qualified teachers for public secondary schools by employing over 4,000 teachers without clearance, describing the saga as one of the most painful moments of his six-year administration.
According to Sule, “We were told that our secondary schools needed about 1,000 teachers and approval was given to employ them. In the process, they employed 1,400 unknowingly, then money started exchanging hands. They went from 2,000 to 3,000 to nearly 4,000 teachers — all without approval.”
To address the illegal recruitment in Nasarawa State, the governor said a consultant was engaged to verify the entire process. He said this revealed shocking irregularities, including the fact that out of the 4,270 people issued appointment letters, only 719 passed the three-step screening, even after the pass mark was reduced from 60 to 50 percent.
Governor Sule, who stressed that his priority is to leave Nasarawa State better by ensuring only qualified teachers shape the future of young citizens, announced automatic employment for the 719 qualified candidates.
He also disclosed that his administration has approved an additional 500 slots to bring the total number of teachers recruited to 1,500, while plans are underway to compensate affected applicants and ensure future recruitments remain credible.
