Rivers State Govt Sack Over 300 Lecturers
The sack of 344 lecturers has been approved by Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. The lecturers were sacked alongside others employed for the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori-Ogoni, the headquarters of Khana Local Government Area. The teachers were employed by the Rotimi Amaechi administration last September.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the polytechnic , Innocent Ogbonna, confirmed the sack of the lecturers. They were sacked last Wednesday.
Ogbonna also disclosed that the Rector of the Institution, Obianko Elechi, began his terminal leave two weeks ago on the instruction of the state government.
Ogbonna said: “The recent employment exercise we had at the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori has been cancelled. The process used in employing them was such that the government needs to review. As we speak now that process has already been terminated by the incumbent government.
“As it stands now, they don’t have any job with the Polytechnic now; that is the truth, moreso when they are yet to start work before the process was dissolved.”
On the sack of 344 lecturers and other workers of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, Wike’s media adviser said: “Their employment did not follow due process, done in a hurry and fraught with irregularities. Until the irregularities are cleared, they remain sacked. The Rector of Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori was asked to proceed on compulsory leave, because of official misconduct and being investigated. The rector must be on compulsory leave, pending the outcome of the investigations.”
The Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), through its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, condemned the sacking of the 344 lecturers and others, saying Wike should desist from punishing “innocent Rivers people, in his bid to get at Amaechi”.
APC said: “It is sad to note that Governor Nyesom Wike’s obsession to conduct a vengeful vendetta and reprisal against every good legacy left behind by his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has now led him to sack 344 lecturers and other staff duly employed by the authorities of the Rivers State Ministry of Education for the services of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori.
“The employment of the sacked lecturers and staff by the Amaechi’s administration, which commenced as far back as 2013, followed due process, as they were painstakingly taken through rigorous examinations and documentation, including biometric capture, to ease their working life. The affected lecturers continue to insist that their recruitment followed due process.
“In a most shocking manner, Wike mindlessly directed, through the Rivers State Ministry of Education, that the engagement of the 344 lecturers and other personnel be terminated in one fell swoop, without a thought for what will become of those involved, their families and dependants.
”To confirm that the Rivers governor was out on a vendetta mission, he also directed that the Rector of the Polytechnic, Obiaanko Elechi, should embark on compulsory leave.”
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