Governor Nasir Ahmad el Rufai's bid to weed out thousands of school teachers who failed a grade 4 examination used to evaluate their competency has been backed from Ekiti State.
Governor Nasir el Rufai
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has declared support for the Competency Test organized for teachers in Kaduna State, insisting that the State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai was right to sack the over 21,000 that failed the test.
State Chairman of the party; High Chief Jide Awe said in a statement made available to journalists on Friday, that the APC, especially in Ekiti State remained committed to the sanitization of the teaching profession by easing out unqualified teachers from the system.
Chief Jide Awe, who described those criticizing Governor El-Rufai for insisting on the sack of the over 21,000 that failed the competency test as uninformed, commended the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi for providing technical support for the Kaduna State government to carry out the test.
He said the APC in Ekiti State was proud that Dr Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti State brought the consultant that conducted the competency test in faraway Kaduna State, noting that what Ekiti State lost when teachers in the State opposed the competency test, Kaduna State has gained it.
The party chairman said Teachers’ Development Need Assessment (TDNA) introduced by the APC government of Dr Fayemi was in the best interest of education in the State
He added that nothing would stop teachers in the State from writing the test should APC return to power in Ekiti State.
Chief Awe said it was better to have few teachers who are qualified than having thousands of unqualified teachers teaching our pupils nonsense.
The Chairman called on Governor El-Rufai not to be blackmailed by threats from the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) that vowed to down tools if the government sacked its members.
He said rather than being bothered by threats from labour unions, Governor El- Rufai should go ahead with the sack of the over 21,000 teachers and their replacement with new teachers.