Report on non-indigenous teachers’ sack mischievous

The Benue State government has stoutly denied reports that it disobeyed a court order concerning non-indigenous teachers, stressing that the report was “untenable, uncharitable and mischievous.”

A statement signed by Tahav Agerzua, Special Adviser, Media and ICT, insisted that the Gov. Samuel Ortom government “has neither retrenched any teacher nor disobeyed any court order on the matter since assumption of office.”
The statement reads:
Our attention has been drawn to reports in several newspapers and other media platforms alleging that the Benue State Government has disobeyed a court order on the retrenchment of non-indigenous teachers between 2005 and 2006.
According to the report, the said court order was given in 2008.
It is obvious that the report, especially some of its headlines, had been retrieved from the archives and deliberately embellished to appear fresh in order to cast the present administration in bad light.
For the benefit of the general public, let it be known that the Benue State Government currently led by Governor Samuel Ortom has neither retrenched any teacher nor disobeyed any court order on the matter since assumption of office.
It is curious that those allegedly retrenched would wait for a long period before resorting to the media to demand compliance with a judgement from a seven-month old administration that inherited a deficit treasury.
If such a legitimate claim existed it ought to have been channeled through the appropriate channel and the Ortom administration which believes in the rule of law would have engaged with those involved on the matter since government remains a continuous process.
For example, when the plight of staff of the Benue State University Technical College who had not been paid for five years was brought to Governor Ortom’s attention, he directed that they should be paid for three months at once while their arrears were being worked out.
The State government also secured a N28 billion loan to pay arrears of workers salaries, including those of teachers, owed by the last administration and also implemented the minimum wage for primary school teachers in the state.
Any attempt to therefore characterize the present administration as insensitive to the plight of teachers is untenable, uncharitable and mischievous.