Screening exercise reveals names of underaged teachers in Niger

As c r e e n i n g committee set up by the Chanchanga Local Government Area in Niger State unearthed glaring anomalies in the recruitment into the Council education authority.

Among the anomalies is the emergence of names of underaged teachers on the payroll of the Council.

Documents obtained by the Daily Trust also showed that letters appointing prospective teachers into the service of the council were issued on weekends instead of weekdays, while some appointments were backdated by several years.

In one of the documents, one Sa’adatu Abdulrahaman, female with PS number E23/09001035, allegedly born sometime in1990,obtained a Nigeria Certificate in Education(NCE) and was employed as a class teacher in 2001.

The document showed that the affected person is on grade level 06 step 2 and teaches at Gbangbapi Primary School.

Similarly the document showed that one Hafsat Adamu with PS number E6/09/01232, born in 1994, was appointed a class teacher in 2010 on grade level 03 step two at the age of 16.

Also, Zainab Abubakar was allegedly born in 1984 and appointed by the council’s education authority in 1999 at the age of 15, while Binta Ibrahim was allegedly born 1985 and was appointed by the council in 1998 at the age of 13.

The documents reveal that one Fatima Ibrahim has her appointment with the council confirmed on 1/9/2001, a date the screening committee said was Saturday. Hadiza Waziri, Adamu Patricia and Aliyu Musa, all class teachers, allegedly have the same problem of being appointed on Saturdays.

The committee also received a communication from a female class teacher in Dusten Kura primary school in the local government area alleging that her appointment letter reads 01/06/2010 but was given to her on 01/12/2015.

The chairman of the local government area, Yususf Inuwa Fuka could not be reached for comment, while a committee member who craved anonymity said they would address a press conference after the completion of their assignment.