Non-native teachers employed in Zamfara State have raised complaints about what they deem as unfair dismissal by the state government.
John Obiora, the spokesperson for this group and a teacher in a secondary school within Bungudu Local Government Area, stated that a majority of non-native teachers were affected by the dismissals.
Addressing reporters in Gusau, Obiora expressed confusion over the lack of clarity regarding the reasons behind their termination by the Teachers Service Board, their employer.
However, in response to these claims, Mohammed Aliyu Anka, the Executive Chairman of the Board, countered the allegations.
He clarified that all non-native teachers in the state were employed on a contractual basis. Anka further explained that according to the Board’s regulations, teachers on contract must notify the Board six months before the expiration of their renewal contract—a step that many non-native teachers failed to undertake.
He stressed that if such teachers’ contracts expire, they will not be renewed. “On the part of the Board, one month to the expiration of the contract, we would notify the teachers that their services are no longer needed and at the end of the contract, their contracts will not be renewed”
“In fact, we need teachers in the area of science, and serious teachers in the field are still with us. But we can terminate the contracts of teachers where we have enough personnel”
He also lamented that many of the non-indigenous teachers were engaged with some private schools in the state and were still collecting salaries from the state government while paying attention to the private schools.
“The government can refuse to renew the contract after expiration and the teacher can also terminate the contract as well”, he added.
Anka claimed that many more non-indigenous teachers were still on the payroll of the state government, saying that nobody’s contract would be terminated without any solid reason.
