Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has recommended the suspension of 42 primary school teachers for allegedly absconding from their duty posts for two years in Gamborun Ngala Local Government Area in the state.

The governor said this on Wednesday during the Democracy Day celebration at Ramat Square in Maiduguri, the state capital.

Mr Zulum said that during his tour of primary schools in the local government, he discovered that 62 teachers were registered in the nominal role whereas only 11 were present.

“To my dismay, the head master said he has had only 11 teachers in the school in the last two years.

“This is very obnoxious and I have directed the suspension of the 42 teachers who were not on ground,” he said.

Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in Borno, Jubril Muhammed, said the teachers’ action was not deliberate.

Mr Muhammed said that teachers in the state usually worked on two weeks shift agreement.

“The first set of teachers were deployed to liberated councils while those that are substituting them every two weeks are working in the Internally Displaced camps of the LGAs in the city of Maiduguri.

“It is not possible for all the teachers to be on the ground at the same time because of the current challenges. We also lack adequate teachers to cater for the educational services in both the LGAs and IDPs camps at the same time,” he said.

NAN