By Ahmed Rahma
The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Kayode Fayemi, has suspended the ongoing teachers’ recruitment exercise, chairman of Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mr Babatunde Abegunde disclosed on Thursday.
According to him, the Governor directed immediate refund of money paid by successful candidates in the recruitment exercise conducted by the commission in order not to make new entrants into the public service suffer unduly.
While explaining that the monies to be refunded covered those paid by the candidates for the purchase of the Teaching Service Manual, Service Record and Job Cards among others during the documentation stage which will remain the candidates’ property, he noted that the refund was part of Mr Fayemi’s commitment to the general welfare of his people.
He said that contrary to insinuations in some quarters, the state government was very fair in the recruitment exercise, but regretted that the pandemic and the attendant economic downturn, as well as the #EndSARS protest, stalled the process.
Speaking on the commencement of recruitment and how the exercise was conducted, Mr Abegunde recalled that, “The commission commenced the process by mid-2020, adding that the target could not be met because of the lockdown and other effects of the global pandemic and other reasons.
TESCOM projected the recruitment exercise which consisted of both written examination and interviews in phases for administrative and economic convenience, he explained.
According to him, the process of appointing the first batch of 400 teachers started in October 2019 and was concluded in November 2020.
Speaking further, he added that the process for recruiting the second batch of 100 teachers commenced immediately after the first set appointed were posted to schools with the invitation of shortlisted candidates for documentation.
The TESCOM chairman said that letters of appointment would have been issued immediately after documentation, stressing that it was however not feasible due to the reasons stated above.
Mr Abegunde who stressed that the governor would not subscribe to employing workers that the state would not be able to promptly pay, however, assured the recruitment process would continue as soon as the state finances improved, to accommodate new entrants into its workforce.
