Employment scandal rocks Abia Govt sets up committee

With the dust raised by the recent dismissal of over 5,666 teachers said to be illegally employed by Abia State Secondary Education Management Board yet to settle, another 250 workers in the another parasternal may also lose their jobs.

This follows the constitution of a 5-man committee by the government to investigate the employment of 250 workers into the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, ABSIEC. The 5-man committee, headed by Sir Don Ubani, the deputy chief of staff, in the office of the deputy governor, is mandated to investigate the modalities used in offering employment to the 250 workers even when no waiver was granted by the government for such an exercise.

The committee is expected to conclude its investigations in a short while and report to the government for appropriate actions. To this end, fear has gripped the newly employed staff, as their fate would be determined by the recommendations of the committee as well as the state government’s action.

When ABSIEC’s headquarters at Library Avenue, Umuahia was visited on Friday, there was total calmness around various departments of the electoral umpire as some staff were seen in clusters, probably deliberating on the development.

It would be recalled that a former executive direct or of Abia Secondary Education Management Board, Mr Lawrence Ogbonnaya was suspended and later sacked in July by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for employing a whooping 5,853 teachers into the secondary education system, even when waiver was only given for employment of 187 teachers by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

The sack of the affected teachers was later clarified by the State government, who explained that the said teachers were never employed by it, rather, as the statement read, the sacked teachers fell prey to a fake job syndicate run by Ogbonnaya, the ex executive director of SEMB.