The Katsina State Government on Wednesday inaugurated a special committee to probe the omission of some qualified candidates, scoring discrepancies, and other issues trailing the recruitment of 7,325 primary and secondary school teachers by the state government.
The State Commissioner for Women Affairs Zainab Musawa disclosed this to journalists at the Katsina Government House Press Centre shortly after the eighth State Regular Executive Council Meeting presided by Governor Dikko Radda.
She explained that the committee was set up following genuine complaints of some key stakeholders regarding the recent teachers recruitment exercise.
According to Musawa, this will enable the government to give employment offers to 22 qualified candidates omitted and strike out 152 names from the list of the 7,325 recruited teachers because they did not sit for the recruitment examination.
She maintained that 11 persons would also be removed from the initial list because they were not qualified.
Musawa further assured that Governor Radda would sanction the errant officials behind the recruitment scandal, adding that the state government would not take it lightly with anybody found guilty of indiscipline or engaging in acts contravening administrative regulations.
Governor Radda has also directed members of the State Executive Council to immediately commence ‘surprise visitations’ to public schools at their respective local governments of origin.
This is to assess the level of punctuality or otherwise of teachers in Katsina primary and secondary schools.
In the meantime, the State Government also reiterated its bid to commence full implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies ( MDAs) in the state civil service from January 2024.
According to the State Commissioner of Finance Bashir Gambo, a private consulting firm has already been engaged to coordinate the TSA implementation.
He explained that the company would operate for six months in the state, adding that within the period, the consulting firm would train personnel and administrators to take over from them after their exit.
The commissioner said this initiative would not only ensure total control of all revenues coming to the state but also block financial leakages.
In a related development, the State Government said it’s set to build at least 204 tube wells at various irrigation sites in the state while also providing solar-powered water pumps to farmers.
In this regard, each of the 34 Local Government Areas of the State would have six tube wells at their selected irrigation sites.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture and Livestock Management Ahmed Bakori disclosed this to reporters shortly after the Council meeting. He said the Federal Government has pledged to boost rice, wheat, and maize production in the state.
“On its part, the Katsina State Government would soon be providing viable seeds, together with NPK and urea fertilizers to identified dry season farmers in the state. Let me also add that the distribution of the farming inputs would be launched at one of the irrigation sites,” he added.