Trouble For Benue SUBEB Chairman As Ortom Blows Hot On Salary Padding

There is an indication that trouble awaits the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), as it’s Chairman, Philip Tachin risks being sacked by the State Government over salary padding.

The State Governor, Samuel Ortom while speaking to newsmen in Makurdi had made a statement that fingered Tachin as complicit in the padding of salaries of primary school teachers in the state.

The Governor, therefore, instructed Education Secretaries of the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state to carry out an audit of primary school teachers in their LGAs to arrive at the exact number of primary school teachers in the state as well as their actual wage bill.

He further directed that after compiling the information, the Education Secretaries should depose to an affidavit and submit the names of the teachers; their exact number, and how much they earn to him, personally.G

Governor Ortom made the decision when he suspected the case of outright fraud as the wage bill of the teachers has not changed despite cases of deaths and retirements.

Ortom had also lamented that despite being informed that no fewer than 2, 000 primary school teachers in the state would have retired by October 2018, the wage bill of the state has remained the same.

He explained that while trying to block leakages in the primary schools, his efforts had been frustrated by a syndicate that was experts in the padding of salaries, who were feeding fat on it.

According to him, “I have been frustrated by some syndicates who have been experts in padding certain things in the area of teachers, civil service and LG administration and that is how they are living fat on it.

“We tried in the past to adopt some measures that would block these leakages and check some of these fraudulent practices but again there were deeper challenges because some of the steps we took ended creating more problems for us.

“This time around (second tenure) I am not going to allow it to happen because I have experienced it in the past.