Following allegation of existence of ghost workers in the system, the Provost of Kogi State College of Education (Technical), Kabba, Dr Komolafe Awo, on Wednesday, said it was not true that the governing council of the institution recruited over 200 members of staff to pad up the nominal payroll of the institution.
He said it was a wild allegation that the authorities of the school engaged in illegal recruitment on the eve of the ongoing screening exercise.
The provost and other members of the institution made the disclosure while answering questions from members of the state House of Assembly committee on education during the defence of the 2016 budget proposals for the state ministry of education.
The registrar of the institution, who was said to have been involved in the saga, John Amobeda, told the committee led by Abdulkarim Kereke, sitting at the Government House that the allegation was a ruse.
He said as a registrar, he was not responsible for employment of people in the college, adding that it was the responsibility of the council to hire and fire.
He said, “The last time the council exercised that power was when they appointed the principal officers and officers for accreditation in September 2015. That was almost six months before the accreditation exercise.
“Since the inception of this government and dissolution of the council, no appointment has been made in the college. So reports that we surreptitiously employed people into the institution were not true.”
According to him, the institution had only 238 members of staff consisting of academic and non academic staff on its nominal roll, adding that this was presented for accreditation.
According to him, the number of students at the moment is 307 but admission into year one was ongoing; explaining further that the issue of the number of staff was not a function of the number of students as the required number of staff must be available for any school to be accredited.
However, the House explained that the intention of the scrutiny was not to witch hunt the management of the college, but rather, to foster transparency in the management process.
Kekere, who is also the factional deputy speaker of the assembly, however, said the house would ensure a proper scrutiny of the proposal for the college with the management being made to answer necessary questions before it is granted.
Credit: Tribune
