Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has redeployed redundant directors in ministries in the state to schools across the state to teach various subjects.
Governor Al-Makura said that his administration took the decision to address the shortage of teachers in state-owned schools.
He disclosed this while declaring open a training programme organised by the state government for the different cadres of public servants in the state.
Al-Makura said, “I want to announce this officially that, the fact that you are a director in any of the ministries does not stop you from going to classroom and teaching the children. Government is going to take a very pragmatic decision. Our schools are going without teachers because teachers are getting better jobs somewhere and a lot of them are retiring.
“We are going to embark on that. Whether you are an assistant director in the office without a single file passing through you for months, I feel the better place for you to go is to go and teach our children in school.”
The governor also said that his administration had suspended the tenure system of permanent secretaries in the state, adding, “Public service is an elevated institution that requires experience and administrative dexterity. We consider it as a misplacement of priority to bring people who are not civil servants to the position of permanent secretary.”
He stressed that appointments to the position of permanent secretary in the state would continue to be restricted.
“Gone are the days when they used to consider the position of permanent secretary as merely a political appointment,” he said.
The governor also disclosed that his administration was going to employ 2,000 graduates into the state civil service.
“We will do that with all sense of responsibility. We will employ graduates and every local government will have the opportunity to bring its indigenes, at least 100 graduates. We are going to commence that immediately,” he said.
