Kogi: Furore over N48m collected from applicants…Governor orders refund

His hope of getting employment however suffered its first shock  when he was asked to pay N3000 into a bank account after submitting his application letter.He told our reporter that he had to borrow the money because he was told that he would not sit for the employment test without making the payment.This was the […]

His hope of getting employment however suffered its first shock  when he was asked to pay N3000 into a bank account after submitting his application letter.
He told our reporter that he had to borrow the money because he was told that he would not sit for the employment test without making the payment.
This was the predicament faced by over 16,000 applicants who applied for the 500 vacancies in teaching advertised in the state.
The commission in its advertisement  requested only NCE and university graduates (BED) in fields of English Language, Computer Science, Mathematics,  Chemistry , Physics, Biology, Agriculture  Science  and Geography  to apply within six weeks.
Daily Trust gathered that as soon as the applications started pouring in,  the commission decided to extended the employment  to polytechnic  graduates and other graduates that were hitherto excluded.
Another applicant who only gave her name as Ojoma said they were told that any applicant who failed to pay the N3,000 fees would not have his or her application attended to or considered.
She also said that she had to borrow money from a friend because she had been searching for a job in the last three years without success.
“I learnt that over 16,000 applicants submitted applications  for the 500 vacancies. If it is only 500 then why are they milking jobless graduates?” she asked.
According to Daily Trust investigation, the N3000 charge was jointly arranged by the chairman of the Kogi State Teaching Service Commission, Sylvester Onoja and the Kogi State NECO coordinator, Jacob Ekele who is also a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Idris Wada.
It was gathered that the TSC under Onoja contracted NECO to help organize aptitude test for shortlisted candidates for the employment but NECO on its part said the commission would have to foot logistic bills for the test, hence they passed the burden onto the applicants.
It was further gathered that the N3,000 charge was arrived at by the TSC chairman as it was neither discussed nor approved by the commission’s governing board.
A reliable source said a separate account was opened for the collection of the money without the knowledge of other members of the commission’s board instead of using the TSC existing  account.
As the controversy raged on, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Vanguard for Democratic Consciousness (VDC),  called on Governor  Idris Wada to sack the TSC chairman and  the Senior Special Assistant  for allegedly  extorting money from already impoverished applicants.
The group in a statement signed by its coordinator, Baba MP Abdulrazak, alleged that the duo of Onoja and Ekele  had already collected  over N45 million from the applicants, with a target of N60 million during the exercise.
The statement said: “We call on the governor to direct Onoja and Ekele to stop the collection of the said money in the interest of the already impoverished applicants as it is unjustifiable to collect money from applicants.”
Also, a Lokoja-based  human rights activist  and Executive Director  of Centre for  Human Rights and Conflicts Resolution , Comrade Idris  Miliki  Abdul, condemned the  action of the TSC, describing  it as a fraud.
He said the whole process  is an attempt to  cheat  already unemployed graduates  who are struggling to come to terms with economic realities.
“If  it is compulsory to  conduct aptitude test for  prospective  candidates  the government must bankroll such charges . There was no sincerity of purpose by asking over 16,000 applicants who are graduates of various fields to pay  the sum of N3000 when the state government actually needed  only 500 teachers,” he said.
But the TSC Chairman, Sylvester Onoja, who confirmed the said payment to our reporter, exonerated  his office from the collection of the money.
He said TSC only contracted NECO to conduct the aptitude test for the applicants and that the  N3,000 was charged by the examination body to enable it conduct the test for those who applied and that the amount was approved by the state government.
He said the commission is out to get the best hands that would impart knowledge on the students and that people are only trying to politicize the exercise and good intention of the commission.
On his part, the state NECO coordinator, Jacob Ekele, said the N3,000 was meant to take care of the test, scratch cards and data capturing as requested by the state government, saying that there was no way NECO would conduct such examination for free.
According to him, they have conducted similar examinations  for the state College of Education, Technical, Kabba and other organizations in  the state.
He said  the amount is not too much as was being canvassed by VDC group, advising the applicants to exercise restraint as the body was poised to  conduct a credible exercise.
However,  the  state government has ordered the  commission  to stop the collection of the N3,000 from applicants and refund whatever it has collected to those who had paid.
In a statement, the Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Yabagi Bologi, said the money paid by candidates who applied for teaching jobs with the government was in the custody of  NECO and not the State Teaching Service Commission and that it was working with NECO to ensure that the money was refunded to the candidates.
The commissioner assured the applicants that their applications for employment would also be processed in a very transparent manner as the TSC was being administratively empowered to handle the recruitment exercise creditably.
Bologi said  the government  has decided to fund all administrative processes involved in the recruitment of education officers in the state.
He however assured the applicants and the people of the state that fairness and equity would be ensured in the recruitment exercise so as to get the best hands.