According to report reaching oyogist.com, Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, on Monday, charged the 5,000 newly-recruited teachers and 700 non-teaching staff converted to teaching cadre to embrace professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
The governor, while speaking at the Induction and Training Programme for the new teachers employed by the post-Primary School Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, said that the teachers’ appointments were based on merit.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as equally saying that his administration will continue to train and retrain the new teachers and give them all the necessary support needed for the success of their works.
He said: “I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the inductees. I am sure that the majority of you got this appointment by merit. It is not because you know a Permanent Secretary or the governor or anybody. You applied, they called you for the test, you did the interview and you were successful.
“Well, you may or may not know. I was going to cancel my engagement here but I am glad that I came. You are being inducted into a noble profession and some of you will go on to do some other things. This is just the beginning but not the end for all of you.
“Some of you will leave the teaching line and become politicians. We may have the future governor here; it has happened before. Alhaji Lam Adesina was a teacher before he became governor. So, don’t rule anything out. Even if you don’t become governor, two of my teachers are here, some of the students you will teach may become governor.”
Governor Makinde, who maintained that his administration will continue to put the interest of the state first, added that his administration has been expanding the economy of the state through different policies and programmes.
“People have been asking how we have been doing it in Oyo State. Others are paying half salaries and struggling. They are rescinding their decisions to pay the national minimum wage, but we are paying the minimum wage, the consequential adjustment and we are also recruiting. Not just teachers, even health care professionals. We are also recruiting environmental officers.
“Also, the first batch of our agri-business trainees on the YEAP programme have been trained. Those in the second batch have started their training yesterday and we have decided that we will train up to 10,000 of them.
“So, we are creating opportunities in Oyo State. We are expanding our economy, and education is one of the pillars of this administration.
“The burden that we have to carry is such that everything that you do in your various schools will definitely reflect on the overall performance of this administration,” the governor added.
He said: “So, I ask you to partner with us, to continue to make the kind of progress we have continued to see so far. When we came in, Oyo State was at number 26 out of 36 states. We were behind all the states in the Southern part of the country but, today, we have moved to number 11. So, you have to continue on that path, and one thing that I promise you is, this administration will not abandon you.
“We will continue to train and retrain you. And we will continue to provide opportunities for you. But I beg of you, our future generations are the ones that you are going to mold. So, every time you wake in the morning to go to your various schools for your assignments, have it at the back of your minds that the little contribution you are making has ramifications for our future as a state and as a country.”
