The Ministry of Education in Cross River State, southern Nigeria has concluded plans to employ six thousand qualified teachers across primary and secondary schools in the State.
The Commissioner for Education, Stephen Odey gave the hint in Calabar, when he received members of the Cross River State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by the chairman, Comrade Archibong Bassey.
He noted that due to the massive retirement of civil servants including teaching staff across the state, there was need to reinvigorate the education system by recruiting new hands.
“We have made a request to Governor Bassey Otu for the employment of 6,000 teachers. Following last year’s massive retirement of civil servants, who were recruited when Akwa Ibom State was created, there was need to have new and qualified people.
“In that regard, we have written to the governor, Senator Bassey Otu to give the ministry to go ahead. Once, he returns, we will kick start the process. But, let me use this opportunity to clarify the false claims made by PUNCH newspaper”, he said.
Odey noted that Cross River recruited a total of 3,000 qualified teachers in 2019 when he served the last administration as the chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), saying “Punch Online of 7th July, 2024 with headline “Teacher shortage: 18 states fail to recruit teachers in five years,“ included Cross River as one of such States.
According to the Commissioner, “PUNCH went ahead to publish what was false. There was no proper research before that publication. Cross River should not have been included among states that did not recruit teachers since 2018. I know that we lack teachers because everyday you see people retiring. So if you do not recruit, then there will be problems.
“I will advise media organizations to always research properly. My office is always very open for journalists to verify any information before publication. Let the report be balanced rather than publish misleading information because of failure to do the right thing,” he stressed.
Earlier, the Chairman of Cross River State Council of the NUJ, Archibong Bassey assured them of adequate support to enhance proper information dissemination to the public across the different media organizations.
PIAK
