48 teachers sacked in 2020 fraudulently paid March salaries — Kwara Governor

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State said he had received a report that revealed the unlawful salary payment for the month of March to 48 teachers sacked last year.

The teachers were among the 2, 414 so-called ‘sunset’ teachers sacked by the state government last December. They have, however, been replaced with 4, 701 teachers after a controversial recruitment exercise.

The governor had earlier set up a three-member committee to probe an allegation that some of the teachers disengaged in December 2020 were paid in March.

Members of the panel were Saka Razaq, Murtala Sambo and Adenike Ojo.

Speaking at the submission of the committee’s report, the governor said the payroll of the state government is very important to his administration.

“A situation where people will upload names that are not supposed to be on the payroll will not be tolerated by the state government.

“That is why we set up the committee to look into it, find the culprits, and recommend solutions to it. Let me appreciate your work. It is straight, fast and voluminous. Government will look into it and take appropriate action.”

The chairman of the committee, Mr Razaq, said it was inaugurated on April, 30 to consider the circumstances surrounding the infiltration of 48 disengaged SUBEB sunset staff into the March 2021 payroll.

“We invited all the departments involved (their heads and members). We asked them to put their defence in writing and we invited them for oral cross-examination and presentation,” he said.

“In our cross-examination, we examined them based on the document submitted. We even engaged forensic experts in order to detect some things. We have now come up with our findings and recommendations.”

The committee’s report recommended that queries be issued to some officers involved in the preparation of the payroll and that the money be refunded to the state coffers.(Premium Times)

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