Ekiti Jobs: Gov Fayemi Sends Mail To Unhappy Applicant

Governor Kayode Fayemi has responded to the accusation that the 2020 recruitment process of teachers by Ekiti State Government was done in secret and favored partisan.

The allegations were raised by an unhappy applicant identified as Oluwanifesimi Esther, who participated in the exercise which took place at St Louis Grammar School in Ikere Ekiti in 2019.

However, Governor Fayemi responded to her complaints and explained in detail why the recruitment process was delayed and every bit of her accusation.

Read Governor Fayemi’s response to her mail below

To: Oluwanifesimi Esther
Dear Esther,
Thank you for emailing me about your experience, which I already saw on one of the proliferating blogs on social media. The good thing about sending this to me directly is that I’m able to respond to you since I believe I do owe you a duty of response as your Governor.

Although it’s not clear what exactly you applied for – primary or secondary school teaching, you’re right that it’s taken the state about a year to complete the process. The recruiting authority however explained the reason for the delay, which I’m sure you’re not oblivious of.

The onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic locked the state and indeed the country down for most of the year. Ekiti began to open up in September and schools were fully reopened in October. As soon as that happened, I directed that the process of recruitment that had stalled since February 2020 be completed, and the first batch of 600 secondary school teachers were recruited in October. The induction programme for the new teachers took place and these teachers are now teaching in schools. And the process has not ended. The primary school aspect is being completed as I write.

Now to your accusation that the recruitment was done in secret – nothing of the sort happened. The process was clearly explained to all who applied. An examination was conducted by an independent examination body linked to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, and those who met the cut-off point were invited for interviews. The eventual recruits were the successful products of the interview process. Your concern that successful candidates were notified via SMS cannot be regarded as a genuine basis for the allegation of lack of transparency, since it was always clear that the state was not going to inform unsuccessful candidates. This is not in any way against standard practice.

Whilst I perfectly understand why you would feel a sense of disappointment given the effort you put into the process, you’ve not provided any evidence to suggest you were unfairly treated or that the process favored partisan interests. It may interest you to know that there are many people linked to my government whose wards were unsuccessful and nothing was done to manipulate the process in favour of such people.

Everything you claimed to have heard or known about me since your teenage years in Otun with regard to my commitment to fairness and meritocracy has not changed. I’m still passionate about my promotion of merit, particularly where it concerns moulders of our future leaders like teachers. And this process was certainly not an exception.

I’m however curious to take your matter up. Kindly forward your examination and interview details to me by email and I will investigate what happened.

Thank you for speaking up but you could have easily gotten this clarification if you had written the way you did without jumping to unfounded and baseless conclusions about my person and my government. We are here to serve our people, not to cheat or disrespect them.

But then, I consider it part of the burden of leadership and look forward to receiving your details in the examination and interview.

Yours sincerely
Dr. Kayode Fayemi
Governor