The Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, said on Thursday the state government would not sack teachers in the state.
Instead, Dickson said the government would train and retrain the teachers for greater productivity.
A statement signed by Dickson’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the governor gave the assurance when he inaugurated the Governing Councils of Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education, Sagbama, and the Bayelsa State College of Health Technology, Otuogidi, at the Government House in Yenagoa.
But the governor said only teachers with fake certificates or persons, who refused to be at their duty posts to work had reasons to be afraid of sacking.
He enjoined the chairmen and members of the new governing boards to engage only people who should be in the institutions.
Dickson stressed that his administration would not tolerate the previous practice in the state where unborn children, octogenarians and retirees were dubiously included in the payrolls.
He said the government would provide grants to all state-owned tertiary institutions with effect from this month to beef up their infrastructures and enhance their revenue generating capacity.
He said: “You are self-accounting and self-governing but we will give you grant as you have proposed. We expect you to sit down with your management and get only those staff that you need to run effective courses and programmes. Indeed, the only constant factor is the academic factor because they are academic institutions. You need more academic staff.
“The former ways of opening gates of employment to everybody, including unborn children, people who stay away in Lagos and are collecting money, people who are as old as 80 years or more, who should have retired has to stop. You have to save that money for your institution.
“You must take firm decisions as a council. This year will witness a lot of training by all cadres of public servants, especially teachers. Our policy is not to sack any teacher unless they don’t go to work, unless they have fake certificates, or they have committed any other acts of misconduct.
“Our policy from this year is to ensure that teachers go through the period of training and retraining. There is already a bill before the House of Assembly that would mandate certification for all teachers in all schools in this state.”
The governor also mandated the newly inaugurated boards to strengthen the capacity of the two institutions.
