Indications have emerged that the recent teaching employment given to over 2000 graduates
by the Imo State government is fake.
Towards the end of 2013, the state government through its ministry of Community Government
and Chieftaincy Affairs announced the employment of over 200 teachers to be
posted to all the secondary schools in the state.
This followed complaints from school heads
across the state over lack of teachers to teach in their schools after the
Rochas Okorocha-led government sacked 10,000 workers including teachers
employed by the previous administration in the state.
But 247ureports.com learnt that since that supposed employment in November 2013, the teachers had been working without
employment letters.
They were promised to be paid monthly stipend of N20,000 for six month when their employment would be confirmed on a permanent basis, but 247ureports.com checks showed that none of them had been paid despite having worked all through the period.
Speaking
with 247ureports.com one of the affected teachers who spoke on the
condition of anonymity lamented that they had been working since last four
months without payments.
Another teacher who spoke with 247ureports.com expressed
fears that Governor Rochas Okorocha might have given them fake employment,
since they were given no employment letters.
He recalled that the governor might be replicating what he did to road contractors
in the state, sometime in the past.
During the early days of his administration, Governor Okorocha had asked road
contractors to go to site and commence work without properly awarding the
contracts to them.
The contractors did not receive any contract papers, as none of the projects were
advertised for tender.
The result of that was that most of the contractors who spent millions of naira on
the projects were denied by the governor who told them to show the evidence of
their contract award papers, before they could be paid. Many of them went home
without receiving the payment for their work done.
In line with this, some of the newly recruited teachers are apprehensive that they
might be told to go and forfeit the ones they have done without pay since they
have no employment letter. They appealed to Governor Rochas Okorocha to pay
them and give them employment letter to help them concentrate on the job.
When 247ureports.com visited the office of executive secretary of the Imo State Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB), the public relations officer of the board, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Udenkwo said the SEMB
could not pay the teacher because it did not employ any of them.
She directed this reporter to the Ministry of Community Government and Chieftaincy
Affairs for further enquires.
Attempt to get the reaction of the commissioner for community government and
chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Val Mbamalu could not yield any result as calls put
through to his phone line were not answered. Also, the sms sent to the same
phone line was not responded to.
