Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, has approved the recruitment of primary school teachers, clerical officers and watchmen in 22 local government council areas in the state.

State Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, Hon. Victor Ebonka announced the approval while addressing journalists at the end of the State Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) Meeting in Asaba on Friday.

Ebonka said the approval was given at the JAAC meeting while recruitment will be based on individual local government needs assessment.

He said: “At today’s JAAC meeting, His Excellency, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori gave approval for 22 out of the 25 Local Government Councils to immediately employ the services of primary school teachers in their respective Local Government Councils.

“This employment will not have a uniform number because each Local Government Council will be considering those that have retired from their Councils. So the number to employ will vary from Council to Council.

“We are also employing watchmen, clerical officers and all other support staff for the Local Government Education Authority. This will go a long way in solving the problem of lack of teachers in our primary schools,” he said.

The ALGON boss also debunked insinuations of heavy windfall for the councils, saying the allocation they got for the month of July was not unusual.

“We heard from the rumour mill that about N1.9 trillion will be distributed for the month of July. I want to let you know that we just rose from the JAAC meeting.

“What you heard was just a rumour. There is nothing unusual about the allocation distributed for the month of July. Although it is higher than what we had several years ago.

On the N40 billion facility for pension payments, Ebonka said they have met all the conditions necessary for the loan, adding that they were optimistic of paying the pensioners from next month.

“About the N40 billion facility, all the necessary steps and processes have been completed and even the one percent management fee has been paid. We strongly believe that we will be able to access the money in the next one month.

“Like we said before, we are going to be paying all of the funds that we will access directly to the pensioners. The forensic experts that we have engaged are presently auditing the accounts to ensure that the actual accruals are paid to the pensioners,” he stated.