Ebonyi to recruit 1,500 youths ti improve basic, secondary education

In its concerted effort to improve the education sector, the Ebonyi State Government has set plans to engage over 1,500 qualified youths to fill vacant positions in the State’s Primary and Secondary Education Boards.

The disclosure was made on Tuesday at the Government House, Abakaliki by the State Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria and Senior Special Adviser to Governor Umahi on Religion and Welfare Matters, Rev. Father Abraham Nwali, during a joint briefing on the outcome of State Executive Council Meeting.

Father Nwali, who is also the Chairman of the State Verification Committee on vacant positions in the State Universal Basic Education Board and Secondary Education Board, explained that the vacant positions emanated from retired, resigned and deceased staff of the Boards.

He further disclosed that the Committee discovered 571 vacant positions in UBEB and 957 in SEB, all as a result of retirements, resignations and death at the end of the first phase of their work, which report was presented to Council during the meeting.

According to him, Governor David Umahi has therefore directed that the Committee advance its work towards identifying the destination of the funds gained from such circumstances to avail the State Government of the needed money to cater for the proposed new employees without unreasonably bloating the wage bill of the State.

Nwali emphasized that the move by the State Government was predicated upon Governor Umahi’s concern for the improvement of the education sector as well as his commitment to reducing unemployment generally in the State.

Nwali said: “…In the office of the Welfare and the Committee set by His Excellency for the verification  of the retired, resigned and  deceased  staff, tutorial and non-tutorial of both SEB and UBEB to enable His Excellency see how to engage some of  the youths who have graduated and also in quest of jobs…

“His Excellency has directed that the Committee will continue its work to find out where the resources, the fund for these retired, resigned and deceased are, so that in that way he would be sure that if he ask for the recruitment of this number of persons, he would conveniently pay their salaries without extraordinarily increasing he wage bill of Ebonyi State Government, especially now that we are having this challenge of economic meltdown.”

Nwali added that the Committee would be interfacing with both the office of the State Accountant-General, the Ministries of Finance, Education and those of the UBEB and SEB to ensure the ultimate success of the directive, adding that the dearth of both tutorials an non – tutorial staff at the two levels of education have been discovered to impede the growth of the sector.