By Dare Akogun
The disengaged teachers by the Kwara State Government popularly referred to sunset teachers have accused Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of being callous and lacking empathy by feeding Kwarans lies about their situation.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Comrade Saheed Olayinka made this known in a press conference held today at the NUJ press centre in Ilorin the state capital.
The group who are 2,414 in total said the government pronounced their disengagement in December 2020 from the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) without prior notification to the concerned persons.
Comrade Olayinka said the kwara state government described them as some set of incompetent and unqualified set of employees all in a bid to justify their unfairness against them.
According”It is to our dismay and disappointment that this present administration has been so callous to have fed innocent Kwarans with fat lies against us, framing us as some set of incompetent and unqualified set of employees all in a bid to justify their unfairness against us”.
“In the last two years, our lives didn’t remain the same. We’ve lost our colleagues to death, some bedridden while significant number of others are battling with serious depression for losing their source of livelihood and stagnation of their beloved career,” he said.
Comrade Olayinka alleged that their only crime is because they were employed by the last administration which negates the theory of government being continuum.
“We can say that as Kwarans, we were the first set of people to experience the cruelty of His Excellency, Mall. Abdulraman Abdulrazaq, simply because we were employed by his predecessor.
“However, we are of the believe that in a transitional democracy, government is a continuum. Politicians come and go, a system and people that drives it must not be allowed to be affected by political antics,” he said.
Narrating how their ordeal started he said “In November 2019, advertisement were made on national and local dailies by Abdulfatah Ahmed led Kwara state government, for suitable and qualified candidates interested in teaching to apply for Kwara SUBEB job.
“We consequently applied and sat for qualifying examinations and we were subsequently screened. Those of us that were considered suitable were later selected after all these processes, which made us staff members of the Board.
“After receiving our appointment letters, the Board (SUBEB) posted us to various local governments, where there were shortfall of teaching staff and we began work.
“We dedicated ourselves to the service of the State and gave in our best, hoping that we would rise through the ranks of our beloved profession, until it was unduly cut short in December, 2020”.
Continuing he said “Unfortunately, we were disengaged after 24months of hard work and few days to the date we would be due for appointment confirmation.
“The government, mindless of the implications of their remarks on our career progressions tagged us with incompetence, just to justify its misguided action against us. In a demonstration of lack of empathy, we were sent packing.
“Believing strongly that the action of the government was illegal and unacceptable, we organized ourselves and has been demanding to know what actually we have done wrong, but no answer has been provided, except for the government rhetorics of calling dog a bad name, to justify its hanging. This led us to the conclusion that our disengagement is purely political, having waited for this long without justifiable response.
“The government promised us to reapply for the SUBEB job advertised in January 2021 and promised that those qualified among us would be reabsorbed. To prove our competence and qualification, we applied. Over 70% of our members passed the examination and the interview, yet, less than 2% among us were engaged.
“We have on good authority, that applicants who neither wrote the examinations nor participated in the interview were even considered for appointment by this government in its January 2021 recruitment,” he narrated.
Comrade Olayinka revealed that the group have gone ahead to challenge their disengagement at the National Industrial Court, sitting Akure, even though the government is using all political antics to compromise it’s leadership and divide the group.
He however advised the state government to listen to the voice of reason and rescind it decision and reabsorb the qualified teachers back into the state education sector.
“It is on this ground that we want to, once again, make our voices heard against the injustice that characterizes our disengagement and appeal to His Excellency, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to reconsider our plights,” he said.
“While we are almost losing hope in the present administration of Gov. AbdulRazaq to retrace his step and rescind his political injustice against us, we indulge our members to ensure they get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) intact, so as to ensure we elect right candidates, that would have empathy for common man.
“We must ensure we elected politicians that places premium on legality, fairness and justice. Candidates that would listen to the plight of ‘sunset’ and Kwarans entirely must be the ones to emerge, come 2023,” he said.
