The Plateau Government says it has approved the employment of 2,000 teachers on ad hoc basis to address the dearth of teachers in primary schools in the state.
Gov. Simon Lalong disclosed this when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
He said primary schools in the state were closed down and in dare need of teachers for a long time due to non-payment of salaries before his assumption in office.
According to him, through the counterpart funding in the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the government has been able to do a lot in primary schools.
“SUBEB is working very hard because they have done renovations; they have improved infrastructures in so many primary schools.
“It was when they did that and they said what we would need now is teachers. So, teachers were not teaching because they were not paid salaries.
“So, the first thing I did was to pay them their salaries. There were eleven months in my state but today, teachers are teaching.
“Although they still have some arrears of salaries we are hoping that we will be able to clear.
“We don’t have opportunities to employ them fully now; what we did in the interim was to approve the employment of about 2,000 teachers in primary schools.’’
According to Lalong, his administration has worked hard to provide infrastructure in primary schools through counterpart funding.
He further said that some primary school projects had been captured in the 2016 budget.
He added that many of the projects captured in the budget were started by his predecessor.
The governor assured that his administration, would ensure that it completed all abandoned projects with direct bearing on improving the livelihood of the people.
“We agreed to continue with some abandoned projects.
“In fact, you will find out that in some secondary schools, projects were started but an administration would come and say because the projects were started by its predecessor, it would not complete them.
“But I said that is nonsense for me.
“So we selected them like that and when we saw that some of the projects were dear to the people without regard to whoever was there or who is the contractor, I accepted and that was where my bailout funds went.’’ (NAN)
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