how we uncovered 1,500 teachers with fake certificates..Chairman 

By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board (CR-SUBEB) says it executed a total of 639 projects between 2015 to 2023.

Briefing newsmen on its scorecard for the period under review Tuesday, Chairman of Cross River SUBEB, Dr. Stephen Odey, informed that of this number, a total of 616 projects have been completed and handed over to relevant authorities .

According to him of the 30 abandoned projects the present administration met in 2015, a total of 20 projects were re-awarded, achieving a baseline assessment of 47percent as against 21percent in 2015.

His words :”As we step down in a few days, it is good we put in proper perspective what we have been able to achieve to avoid misconceptions, this is the essence of the briefing.

“When we resumed in 2015, there were lots of backlogs of matching grants that the state was unable to access, but the governor, Prof Ben Ayade, provided the needed access through the payment of counterpart funds to enable us achieve all these feat.

“This is also why Cross River SUBEB by UBEC rating is the highest because we were the first in the country to be able to access the 2022 matching grants, a development which positioned us ahead of other states,”Odey emphasized.

Affirming that his presence at the Board was purely a rescue mission, the chairman announced that his tenure also uncovered over 1500 teachers with fake certificates, after a personnel audit embarked by the Board.

“When we say we came on a rescue mission, we actually came on a rescue mission, we have done our part as we were able to uncover over 1500 teachers with fake certificates.

“Some were lured by their friends and colleagues, while some got promotions with these fake certificates ahead of those who legitimately went to school.

“Teachers were calling and thanking me for what I did, a lot of them apprehended went back to school and today are properly groomed, we have written to the governor to grant us approval to reinstate them on the positions they deserve now because they have genuinely gone back to school to upgrade themselves,” he said.

Odey who decried the dearth of teachers also informed that the Board successfully employed a total of 2864 teachers through due process.

“Ayade has done us great in SUBEB even though we still need more teachers because on daily basis you see retirement of teachers, in some schools you see three or four teachers for primary one to six.”

Other achievements the chairman mentioned were the training and retraining of teachers, education secretaries and Board Directors, the securing of a Smart School located in Obudu local government area, as well as the Board’s involvement in the running of three direct secondary schools, which at the moment are offering boarding facilities.