6,251 applicants jostle for 400 posts

A recruitment drive by an agency of eastern Nigerian state of Enugu has revealed the critical unemployment situation in the country, with 6,251 applicants struggling to fill 400 posts.
This was the experience of the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ESUBEB) as it got set to fill vacancies in the primary and secondary schools teachers allotted it by the Federal Government.
The Desk Officer for Universal Basic Education (UBE) in the state, Mrs Amaka Eze, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) allotted only 400 spaces to the state in its intervention for the employment of teachers.
Eze, who was in Nsukka for the written interview for candidates from Enugu North Zone, said the recruitment was Federal Government’s education intervention programme to ensure that primary and secondary schools in the country had enough teachers.
“This recruitment is government’s intervention programme to solve the problem of inadequate teachers in some primary and secondary schools in the country.
“Successful candidates will be employed and they will teach for two years and will be paid N18,000 as monthly salary,” she said.
The desk officer commended the applicants for their orderly conduct during the exercise.
“This written interview is going on simultaneously in every state of the federation. It is a two-day interview. Some candidates wrote on Tuesday while the remaining are writing today and those to be recruited will be based on merit.
“Only regular NCE holders from Colleges of Education are qualified since part-time or sandwich NCE holders are not qualified to apply,” she said.
Eze attributed the high number of candidates that applied for the jobs to the high rate of unemployment in the country.
“The number of people who applied for this job is an indication that many people are jobless,’’ she said.
Mr Paschal Eke and Miss Joy Ezeugwu, both candidates for the exam, commended the government for the initiative to employ more teachers for primary and secondary schools in the country.
“Writing this interview is not the problem but my fear is that those who have connections will give this job to their friends, brothers and sisters,” Eke said.
“I do not have any connection; God is my own connection and I know He will not disappoint me,” Ezeugwu, on her part, sai