No fewer than 27,980 persons have applied for only 4,000 teaching vacancies in public primary and secondary schools in Abia State.

This came on a day Governor Alex Otti said he was considering the gradual payment of N60 billion arrears of gratuity owed to pensioners since 2001.

Otti, who spoke during a media parley in Umuahia, said he was amazed at the number of applications that had come in since two weeks ago, when the recruitment portal was opened.

He said he approved the recruitment of an additional 4000 teachers after realising that the 5000 recently engaged were still insufficient due to the growing need for more teachers following a surge in school enrollment after the free education policy he introduced last year.

The governor added that he had directed that some of the newly-recruited teachers omitted in the payment of the November salary be paid not later than Sunday.

Otti, who said that his attention was drawn to the glitch in payment of some of the newly recruited teachers, explained that he had already directed relevant officials to get them paid not later than Sunday.

He said:”I was made to understand that there was a glitch in the payment of the newly recruited teachers. We have asked everybody involved in the process to ensure that they cannot have a weekend without paying them.”

So latest by the end of Sunday, all the people who are affected will receive all their salaries.

On the jostle for the new job opportunities, Otti said:”We opened the portal about two weeks ago to recruit an additional 4,000 teachers. As we speak, we have received a total of 27,980 applications. We were supposed to give 8,000.”

He promised that due process would be followed in the recruitment exercise, insisting that only competent applicants would be considered.

“We will go through the process like we did the first time to ensure that the recruitment is done transparently. One thing I would like to assure you is that the process cannot be manipulated.

“You can go to sleep knowing full well that if you qualify, you will be taken. If you do not qualify, no matter who you know, you will not be taken.”

Otti also said the process of recruiting 770 medical personnel was almost completed, but noted that there was still one critical area where enough hands had not been recruited. (Vanguard)