Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde has dismissed a civil servant for collecting money from teachers in exchange for employment favours.
Makinde, who made this known during the weekend when the state leaders and members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) led by the Chairman, Comrade Prince Samson Adedoyin, paid him a courtesy visit, said four civil servants in TESCOM are also in line for dismissal and prosecution for collecting money from members of the public illegally.
According to him, “These dismissals are not pleasurable but it cannot be business as usual. Our administration is putting a lot of money into the sector and the state has to get value for it. In fact, of the cases of corruption that have been brought to my attention, 80 per cent are from the education sector”.
He added, “We have cases of teachers blackmailing parents to force them to take certain actions. Therefore, I urged the NUT to enlighten their members on the need to do away with these corrupt practices which are detrimental to the sector.”
The Governor highlighted some of the challenges the government is facing in the education sector, which according to him include discrepancies in number of teachers, which made the staff verification exercise imperative, a few bad eggs taking bribes and not putting subventions to good use.