Gov Ikpeazu sacks 5,666 teachers, SEMB chief for ‘unlawful employment’

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has dismissed 5,666 public secondary school teachers.

He also sacked the state Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) Executive Secretary, Mr Lawrence Ogbonnaya.

The affected teachers, who were employed between 2018 and 2020 across the state and the SEMB chief, were sacked over ‘unlawful employment’.

A statement signed by the chief of staff to the governor, Dr Anthony Agbazuere, said the Ikpeazu took the action following a report of the committee set up to investigate “employments carried out at the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) without waiver”.

Ogbonnaya, according to the statement, presided over the supposed employment, which warranted the governor to order for his compulsory retirement.

Before his eventual sack, the SEMB boss had been on suspension since February 2020, when it was revealed he employed teachers unlawfully.

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Agbazuere said that a total of 5,853 teachers got employed during the employment exercise spanning a period of three years.

“But after going through the list of the newly recruited teachers, the panel discovered that only 187 were employed through a waiver from Governor Ikpeazu.”

He said that following the discovery, Ikpeazu directed that the illegally recruited 5,666 teachers should be thrown out of the classrooms, while the 187 lawfully employed be retained in the school system.

Agbazuere, meanwhile, noted that the governor had made room for possible reabsorption of some of the affected teachers by asking schools in need for teachers “in special areas” to apply to the state Commissioner for Education and copy the Chief of Staff to the governor.

He said the government would revisit the list of the sacked teachers and pick from it for employment when any school in the state demanded for teachers.

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