“If You Can’t Read, What Do You Teach?” – Gov. Oshiomhole asks teacher who can’t read own certificate.

It was a worrying sight on Tuesday in Benin during the verification exercise of primary school teachers’ certificates in Edo State as one of the teachers in the state, Mrs. Augusta Odemwingie, could not read a sworn affidavit she tendered as part of her credentials.

The woman who teaches at Asologun Primary School, Ikpoba Okha local government area of Benin City, was asked by the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, who paid an unscheduled visit to the State Staff Training Centre where the screening held, to read the affidavit she presented.

She began to stutter and then read it like one who is learning to read. Everyone present was shocked at the sight.

The governor who while present, perused the credentials and documents presented by those who were being screened, was upset by Odemwingie’s performance. He said to her, “if you can’t read, what do you teach the pupils? What do you write on the board?”. The Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Patrick Ikosimi, who was also at the screening to monitor the exercise, said the woman’s failure was “an embarrassment.”