Cross River State Government has uncovered 758 teachers with fake certificates on its payroll.
The teachers with fake certificates were uncovered during a personnel audit conducted by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
Chairman of the board, Barrister Stephen Odey, who made this known to journalists Wednesday in Calabar, also revealed that 700 ghost workers were discovered in the state’s Teaching Service, thus saving the state between N60 million and N70 million monthly.
“This discovery is a vindication of our suspicion which led to the personnel audit we carried out and which generated a lot of uproar until the state’s House of Assembly intervened.
“The resolution of the House of Assembly gave us the mandate to go ahead with the personnel audit across the state,” he said.
Odey said some of the affected teachers and Head Teachers have come forward to confess that they gained employment with fake certificates, adding that some will be granted amnesty and demoted.
He said sacking the affected teachers who had shown remorse will adversely affect the state’s teaching workforce and increase the crime rate in the state.
He also stated that it is no longer business as usual as his board now rigorously verifies certificates of teachers before employing them.
According to him, SUBEB has taken over the payment of teachers’ salaries in all the 18 local government councils of the state, adding that everything will be done to ensure a conducive atmosphere for learning in all public primary and junior secondary schools in the state.
Barrister Odey also said the state Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has released N1 billion to SUBEB to enable the board access UBE’s N1 billion Intervention Fund to upgrade infrastructure in the state’s public schools, adding that 237 contracts have been awarded to improve facilities in schools under its purview.