By Okey Alozie
Staff of Imo Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) are now gripped by fear as the officials handling the biometric verification exercise go tough, insisting that only certified and authentic certificates will be accepted as genuine documents.
Information revealed that many staff of SEMB, Teachers and Principals of Secondary Schools who were parading false Affidavit, birth certificates and other forged retirement documents in the past are now on the run and are now planning to boycott the verification and audit exercise that is currently going on in Imo.
There are serious indications that before now, good number of staff of SEMB were allegedly holding multiple retirement documents that are not authentic especially Birth certificate and age declaration.
One of the suspects as we gathered is having more than 3 different Birth certificates and declaration of age which is subject to prosecution. Moreover, many who were recommended for dismissal by panels setup in the past as we further gathered are still in service up till now.
The white paper on downsizing and rightsizing of staff, setup many years ago exposed many principals and Top SEMB officials. This development appeared to have thrown those in authority into confusion as only few staff of SEMB mostly the junior ones will likely survive the biometric verification exercise. The worst hit in the ongoing verification exercise is the Zonal Directors and Principal Directors at grade level 16
Report has it that those who took their first school leaving certificate of Education in 1976 going down Automatically are out of the system. It is widely believed that anybody who took his or her FSLCE in 1976 at the age of 12years, as at last year 2024, should be at 60years of age, and supposed to have been exited from the system before now.
Therefore, those who have over stayed in the service, after the biometric verification exercise may enter into serious trouble as they may not get their pensions and gratuity.
A physical look at some of the SEMB staff and principal of schools showed that many of them are no longer fit to remain in the system, because they are no longer adding value to the system again. Most of the old principals sleep at random and can no longer supervise their Teachers. Many no longer come to school. Concerned Imolites want the new commissioner, Prof. B.T. Ikeagwuoha to act fast and flush out the old principals out of the system.
