Benue State government has
revealed that over 200,000 students in public secondary schools in the state
were forced out of school due to Fulani herdsmen invasion.
The Government also said that
more than 1,000 secondary school teachers have stopped work due to incessant
attacks.
Executive Secretary, Benue State
Teaching Service Board, Prof. Wilfred Uji, disclosed this in a chat with
newsmen in Makurdi on Thursday.
He further explained that the
rampaging herdsmen have destroyed over 20 out of the 64 government-owned
secondary schools across the three senatorial districts in the state.
He said the board would need over
N1billion from the Federal Government as an intervention for total reconstruction
and rehabilitation of the affected schools as well as teachers.
The TSB boss listed the
communities where government-owned secondary schools were affected by the
attacks to include Agatu, Udei, Gbajimba, Torkula all in Guma local government
area as well as Logo, Ukum and Katsina-Ala local government areas.
“At one instance, the herdsmen
wrote a letter to the principal of Community Secondary School, Tongov in
Katsina-Ala local government area and the man died later.
“I can categorically tell you that
the future of children displaced by the attack is bleak, and it will take the
state and other parts of northern Nigeria more than 100 years to catch up with
the rest of the states in the country educationally.
“The North accounts for over 80
percent illiteracy rate in the country due to insurgency and other unrest
around the region. There are over 5 million school dropouts in northern
Nigeria.
“There is no future for our
children educationally. Urgent intervention is needed to restore confidence in
the system. We should stop playing politics.
“In the next 100 years, we will
still find ourselves quarreling over the issue of education. The North is the
one marginalising itself. The northerners especially the president should wake
up and stabilise the educational system in the region.
“I urge the Federal government to
set up Secondary Schools Commission like Nigeria University Commission, NUC,
Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC and National Board of Technical
Education to regulate secondary school in the country.” He said.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com