5000 Teaching Job Test: Another Onoja’s Gimick in Kogi, by Olu Joseph

Haba Onoja, this man speaks more than action; all his actions are backed with monetary benefits.

When Chief Slyvester Onoja was appointed Commissioner-in-charge of Education in Kogi state, he claimed then, that education in the state was sick and until he left as commissioner of Education was still on the stretchers according to his sayings.

He paid lip service to education throughout his tenure, even when the state House of Assembly declared state of emergency on education he could not do anything positive except causing more confusion in the sector.

For his numerous talks, this administration gave him a dual appointment as Technical Adviser (not to a football team) to the governor on education and at the same time executive chairman, state Teaching Service Commission, TSC.

Now he has brought up his gimmick again to play on the people and government of Kogi state.

Governor Wada has given him approval to recruit five hundred teachers for secondary schools in Kogi state.

This has given him another opportunity to fraudulently extourt the helpless graduates by shortlisting over five thousand (5000) graduates for five hundred (500) jobs avaliable.

In order to extort money he ordered each applicant to pay three thousand naira (N3000) not talking of other running costs to the applicants.
The test he said should be conducted by National Examination Council, NECO, a Federal government establishment for specific type of examinations, and for a particular examination which some of these applicants has successfully completed eight to ten years ago.

The use of NECO is to simply give the impression of transparency but where does the money realised from the applicants goes?

These hardship meted to these poor applicants, who has no live hood, is seen as extortion of the great order, especially when we are aware some crop of these applicants have served this nation for a whole year (NYSC and Teaching Practices) now are being faced
with Onoja gimmick, the question that comes to mind is what is the state government giving back to these graduates?

He, once as Commissioner for Education transferred the conduct of Junior Secondary School Examination of the state to NECO, only God knows the feedback from it either in kind or cash because no money came to back to the government as revenue.

Now applicants again are to face NECO, is NECO now Ministry of Employment?
Examination for employment should not be seen as examination to pass specific exams, the way the state allow things go is very embarrassing. very soon all employment, interviews will be conducted by NECO and make the Civil Service Commission useless somebody must be getting something somewhere.

Why shortlisting 5000 applicants for 5000 jobs, or is the state going to use the data for other employment? How does the state account swell for the money accrued?

Onoja is taking Kogi for a ride, he is the very person killing education in the state for the past years. All his actions are geared towards making selfish gain. On whose interest is Onoja operating?

The House of Assembly should come to the plight of these applicants, the payment of N3000 before they could get a job in the state, says much about Captain Idris Wada’s insensitivity to the provision of jobs to his citizenry.

The government, state house of Assembly, and anti-graft agencies should look into this, they are helpless applicant has to survive.