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By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir has corrected the impression that his administration is deliberately refusing to employ Christian Religious Teachers to teach Christian Religion in the Secondary Schools in the state.
He explained that Bauchi state government has not neglected the recruitment of CRS teachers but a general challenge been faced in the state as a result of embargo placed on recruitment of Civil servants even before his administration came on board in 2019
The Governor who was speaking while declaring opened the annual Conference of National Association of Christian Religious Educators of Nigeria (NACREN), held at the auditorium of Baptist Royal Academy, First Baptist Church, Bauchi on Wednesday.
Bala Mohammed thanked the organizers for holding the event in the state saying that it is an indication that Bauchi is the most peaceful state in the entire North-East geopolitical zone.
The Governor who was represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Christian Religion, Hon. Pastor Zakka Luke Magaji, assured that as soon as the embargo placed on recruitment of Civil servants in the state was lifted, adequate CRS teachers would be recruited into the Civil service and posted to schools across the state.
He stressed that there is high need to coach the children who are leaders of tomorrow about the knowledge of God in order to have a society free of societal ills.
Quoting from the Holy Bible, the representative of the Governor said that, without the knowledge of God people will go astray.
According to him, “As we are all aware, the book of Hosea chapter 4 verses 6 says, “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
“And because thou has rejected God I also have rejected thee”, the Governor’s representative quoted from the Holy Bible.
He added that, “what the society is facing today is as a result of lack of knowledge, because many people are not educated, if they were, they will not take up arms against one another”.
He further said that as a result of embargo placed on recruitment of Civil servants even before the coming of the PDP led administration of Governor Bala Mohammed, the state government has not recruited civil servants.
“There was an issue raised regarding CRS teachers by the CAN Chairman. But I want to assure you that, it’s not that this present administration has neglected the recruitment of CRS teachers, it’s a general challenge that we are facing in the state due to the embargo on recruitment of Civil servants”, he said.
“Since the inception of this government we have not recruited civil servants due to the embargo on employment, transfer of service because we met a deteriorating situation regarding salary structure in the state of which His Excellency has been battling to correct to enable him fill in the vacuum existing in the civil service”, the SSA noted.
“His Excellency is aware, and I can assure you that once this embargo is lifted, there will be mass recruitment of CRS teachers. And I assure you that you will testify. His Excellency will make us proud”, he said.
He stressed that, “And at the same time I want to bring to our notice, most especially to CAN Chairman, when this issue was brought up, we later realized that most of our brothers that are CRS teachers when employment is given to them, on resumption, they will change. There are a lot of teachers that were recruited for CRS but they went and change because of seeking for juicy places where they can earn substantial allowances.
“I challenge the Christian leaders to identify such teachers and bring their names to us so that we can tell the government that these people were employed as CRS teachers but they later changed”, he instructed.
He however assured that this time around, the teachers that will be recruited for CRS would be closely monitored in order to stop them from changing to other departments.
The Governor then urged Nigerians to continue to pray for the country to overcome the myriads of challenges bedeviling it.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of National Association of Christian Religious Educators of Nigeria (NACREN), Rev. Dr. Reuben Maiture enjoined the Church to be a pacesetter in the area giving education, particularly Christian Religious Studies (CRS) to the Christian young ones in the country.
The National President of NACREN, explained that the 44th Annual National Conference/Workshop/Seminar and Inter Secondary school Bible Quiz/Recitation Competition was aimed at updating the Christian religious studies.
The National President who said that the church has been described as the salt and light of the world maintained that the church should be a pacesetter in all ramifications, in terms of transformation and development.
He also said that the church has a duty to educate because it has the divine mission of helping people to enjoy the fullness of life maintaining that the Church, through the Christian Religious Studies (CRS) has the capability to develop human beings.
With the theme; ‘Christian Religious Studies and the Challenges of Primary and Secondary Education in Nigeria: Going forward, the Conference attracted participants from across the country.
