Mr Jimoh Ijegbai, the Edo Commissioner for Education, said the state had not recruited teachers for its public schools in the last 10 years.
Ijegbai stated this while speaking with newsmen on Monday in Benin.
“In this state, for over 10 years, teachers were not recruited into our schools.
“It did not start with this administration (Governor Godwin Obaseki’s); we have taken the statistics of the gap and I know we will fill the gap in 2020.
“Our reform will not be complete without having teachers in critical areas. We are aware that there is dearth of teachers but we are going to recruit teachers,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that the Obaseki-led administration was doing everything possible to change the narrative.
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He said the governor had not only initiated and implemented the best education policy – “EdoBest’’ but had done a lot to revamp vocational and technical education in the state.
He said EdoBest was dedicated to laying a solid foundation for children up to primary school level, while vocational and technical schools would provide employment opportunities for young school leavers.
The commissioner said that no fewer than 250 public schools had either been constructed or reconstructed across the state in the last one year.
He also said the government was making efforts in two other crucial areas in the state, being agriculture and boosting the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Ijegbai said from a little above N30 million monthly at the inception of the current administration, IGR rose to over N300 million in December 2019.
“To those in and outside the state, they can see that Governor Obaseki has done excellently well.
“He (Governor) said we must devise technology to use in collecting revenue so that we can plug all the loopholes.
“The entire 18 Local Government Areas of the state could only raise N33 million monthly but when technology was introduced, their IGR shot up to about N300 million in December 2019.
“If you compare N30 million and N300 million you should decide whether we should go back to the old ways or continue with what we already started.
“The populace will be the greatest beneficiary of good governance,’’ he said. (NAN)
