Allegation has been leveled against some officials of the Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) in Abia state on how they illegally extended their years of service by payment of a bribe to the tone of N400,000 to the immediate past Commissioner for Establishment.
According to ABN, one Mrs. Janet, the Director in charge of Administration was alleged to have sat on the list of those who were due for retirement, as she too was due for retirement having reached the 60 years retirement age.
However, when she was notified by the appropriate department about her retirement, as the Director in charge of Administration, she was alleged to have refused to act on it, instead, she declined to publish the retirement calendar in the past three years as it is the custom in the board every year.
The bubble however burst following the removal of the immediate past Executive Secretary who was affected by the directive of Governor Alex Otti, instructing heads of government agencies to hand over to most senior officer in their respective establishments.
The Acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Nkwor Victor O’Brian was said to have unraveled the shenanigans. Speaking with ABN TV, the PRO of the Board, Mr. Onuoha D.M said when this was unraveled, Mrs. Janet brought out about files of people who were due for retirement with her, stating that she was not leaving the board alone.
Mr. Onuoha said a number of names contained in the files are people due for retirement either by hitting the age of 60 or spending 35 years in service.
According to Mr. Onuoha, some of the directors who were due for retirement confessed that they paid the sum of N400,000 to the former PRO, Ruth Afari to facilitate an elongated stay in the board. Afari was the middleman between the officials of the state government and SEMB officials who wanted to illegally prolong their years of service, according to Mr. Onuoha.
They were equally said to have gotten a letter from the immediate past Commissioner in charge of Establishments in the state, directing them to remain in service in expectation of five incremental years of service rumoured to have been planned by the state government for teachers across the state.
Mr. Onuoha also alleged that some officials of the board were moved to ministries even as the wage bill continued to increase. He denied allegation that the Ag. Executive Secretary Mr. O’Brian forcefully retired the directors, noting that they were long overdue for retirement.
One Mr. Oledingwa P and the Deputy Executive Secretary, Wilson were also said to have been due for retirement. Ruth Afari was alleged to have declined to move to a new unit where she has been posted to, just like other staff were also reshuffled to various units in the Board. She instead locked up the board’s conference hall and absconded with a vehicle belonging to the board. Mr. Onuoha further alleged that over 50 staff have falsified their age to enable them illegally extend their stay in the service. Sponsored According to him, some staff have had several oaths of age declaration in their files, each coming with a new age.
He accused the Judiciary of complicity in aiding the falsification of age of civil servants in the state. Mr. Onuoha denied allegation that the current acting ES of the board was transferred from outside the board, stating that he has been in the board in the past 23 years of his service. However, in her response Ruth Afari who was the former PRO of the board accused the Ag. Executive Secretary, Mr. Nkwor Victor O’Brian of victimising her, saying the Ag. ES had an eye on her body while he was a Legal Adviser. She said ever since O’Brian made a failed advances at her, he has been looking for means of revenge, adding that he is illegally occupying the office as he is not the most senior officer in the board. She said by the virtue of the number of years he had served, Mr. Okoronkwo Ekpe is supposed to be the Ag. ES as the most senior official of the board and not Mr. Nkwor Victor O’Brian. She said the immediate past ES handed over to Mr. Ekpe as expected but O’Brian and other staff went through the backdoor to influence the headship of the board, leading to a reversal of the handing over to O’Brian following the directive of the state deputy governor, Engr. Ikechukwu Emetu. She said Mr. Ekpe was born in 1963 while his date of employment was 1988.
Also according to her, Mr. O’Brian’s date of birth is 1968 while his date of first employment is 1996. These two measures she said are the yardsticks for measuring seniority in civil service. She challenged the PRO Mr. Onuoha to present his certification from National Institute for Public Relations (NIPR) or evidence of his recognition my the Ministry of Information as the information officer. Afari insists that she is still PRO and that the Ag. Executive Secretary does not have the power to effect his transfer, as such power can only be exercised by the Commissioner for the Education of his/her representative.
By the edict of the board, according to her, all transfers from Grade Level 7 and above cannot be effected by the ES. She accused the Ag. Executive Secretary of desperately attempting to transfer her in order to create room for Mr. Onuoha whom she said is a friend of the Ag. ES. She also claimed to have the directive of the Special Adviser to the Governor not to proceed on any transfer as it did not follow due process. Afari also denied claims that nobody has retired in the board since three years ago, describing the claim as false.
She gave the names of persons who recently retired to include, one Mr. Okoronkwo, and one Mr. Maduako O.C who just retired shortly before the governor came. She equally denied knowledge of age falsification in the board, stating that she is unaware as she does not work in the Admin department.
