By Aminu Adamu Naganye
With the introduction of a new education model of 9-3-4 in 2008 as against previous 6-3-3-4 system in Nigeria which provides for Upper Basic Schools mostly to be domiciled in formerly exclusive primary schools, demand for physical infrastructures had significantly increased in the schools.
However, lack of maintenance culture and security measures through alleged dereliction of duties evident in leaving the schools without watchmen on duty when the reporter visited some schools for instance has led to deterioration of the situation in many primary schools in Warji local government.
Katanga Central, Tuya, Tudun Alheri and Lafiya Primary Schools in Warji local government are some primary schools under the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) that concurrently serve as junior secondary schools. Most of the physical infrastructures in the schools have been on the extreme decline while the number of students soar. In Katanga Central Primary School, according to the head teacher, Malam Hamza Umar, there are over 1, 300 pupils in the primary section alone.
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In these primary schools investigated by Xchange Hama Media, school furniture such as chairs for pupils’ learning, table and chairs for teachers working have been on constant plundering by thieves and burglars allegedly involving people that ought to have been protecting the primary schools leaving the schools empty as ghosts of themselves.
In Katanga Central, the most coveted primary school which is very close to the local centre of power which used to train children of local elite has been rendered a ghost of its former self with dilapidated infrastructure and emptied furniture, burgled windows and doors. Less than 150 pupils out of over 1,300 have seats to sit on.
Some pupils on resumption day at Katanga Central Primary School
Xchange Hama Media investigation discovers that of over fifteen classrooms in Katanga Central Primary School only two classes have chairs for pupils learning. The remaining five blocks of more than ten classrooms are completely bereft of a single chair, or table as a result of alleged theft. Thieves and burglars have also carted away most of the doors and windows in the school.
“Most of the chairs and tables have been stolen,” said Mal. Abdullahi, a neighbour to the school, accused various stakeholders of the school of perpetuating the problem.
A block of classroom at Central Primary School
Another resident, Ibrahim Salisu, explained that “we have seen how some people were giving taking broken chairs and tables to take to their homes. And many even sold them to scavengers.”
The entire school has no single table for teachers with the exception of the office of the head master.
An empty classroom at Central Primary School
Similarly, at least five classes have their doors burgled and windows removed that made them appear as if they are uncompleted buildings. All the doors and windows were carted away.
A classroom with burgled windows at Central Primary School
According to Hamza Umar, the school headmaster, the School faces challenges of burglary and stealing because there is no watchman to protect the school and his repeated requests to relevant authorities remain futile.
“To be honest, the challenge we have is huge here. As you can observe, there are no doors and windows in many classes and no seats in most.
“But there are reasons for that. Firstly, we don’t have watchmen. Since after the retirement of our watchmen, there is no replacement. I have written to the LEA but no positive response,” he explained.
He adds “secondly, there is one watchman that absconds from his duty and we complained about him to the LEA but no favourable feedback. Thirdly, boys from the neighbourhood usually take advantage of not having a watchman to steal and sometimes even to burgle in and steal property. Just recently, one young man was arrested trying to steal windows and we have handed him over to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).” The youngman was later released after intervention from community leaders, a source in the NSCDC said.
The head teacher, however, denied the allegations that teachers and LGEA officials are also part of the perpetrators.
However, residents confirmed that the chairs, windows and doors that disappeared have been allegedly stolen or misappropriated. The trio of residents, teachers and LGEA officials together have accused each other of tampering with the schools property over time.
Xchange Hama Media could not independently verify which among the three groups is liable as each exonerated self.
A resident who preferred to speak in confidence said “ask anyone from the custodians that denies taking some chairs to explain where the zinc or roof of the old-stone building that got destroyed is kept. It is a building that was built during the colonial era, when it was blown up by a windstorm, where did they keep the remnant roof?.”
Remnants of destroyed historic classroom block built during colonial era at Central Primary School
In Tudun Alheri primary, one of the oldest schools established since the colonial era, the situation is similar. “The school is no longer the same. More than half of the classes have neither doors nor windows. The seats have been empty for so long that nobody is talking about them anymore. Students sit on bare floors, stones or mats they bring from home,” said a teacher in the school who asked for anonymity.
A resident of the community, Musa David, noted that the school was abandoned to be pillaged by those that can be best known by teachers, residents and LGEA officials alike which left it desolate.
As one moves around the school, classrooms remain just like a structure that survived severe inferno trying to be fixed by the owner.
A classroom without chairs and windows at Tudun Alheri Primary School
Narrating her displeasure, the school head teacher, Lydia Yohanna, attributed the theft of the furniture and other infrastructure in the school to lack of a watchman and futile efforts to convince LGEA to provide one.
“Many windows and doors are removed and chairs and tables have been stolen. We don’t have a watchman to protect the school. A block of buildings that was blown up by the windstorm was looted, all the roof, by people before we could arrive there. All these happen because we don’t have a single watchman.
“We complained on several occasions to the LGEA to post a guard man here but to no avail. In the last five years, there was not a single watchman,” she said.
A block of classroom at Tuya Primary School
She corroborated further that “Whenever a windstorm blew up the roof, some of them (from LGEA) do come and ask us to remove the remaining part that wasn’t destroyed by the wind to give them. It takes resistance sometimes from us to deny them but sometimes they go away with them.”
She explained that there could be accomplices among the school teachers but she cannot pinpoint because she could not prove. “I can’t deny that teachers steal but if I don’t catch them it is a mere allegation that I can’t confirm or refute unless I have proof.”
In Tuya Primary, the oldest primary school in Ranga district of Warji, the head teacher, Dallami Bala, attributed stealing of furniture to lack of custodian whenever the school closes and teachers vacate. He accused intruders of stealing the school property. “Honestly, what causes these problems of stealing properties is that we suspect jobless youths. They are the ones. And the main problem is that we don’t have a watchman.
According to him, the school has been without a watchman in the last three years. “The man died and there is no replacement. Even prior to his death, he had been bedridden with sickness for two years. So in the last three or so years we had no watchman to guard the school.”
“Similarly, those hanging around the schools and playing football are also suspects who can burgle into and cart away with chairs, windows etc.
He denied the allegation that teachers and officials from LGEA do take part in plundering the school property, saying “they told you their wish. In fact when the door or window or roof is broken or blown up, outsiders can do away with it before we arrive. It is figment of their imagination to say teachers steal.”
However, residents such as Bashir Babaji, maintained that although residents might be also stealing properties and selling to scavengers, they may have learned that from the school teachers when they observed they started going home with some furniture.
For Lafiya Primary School, which is relatively recently established, the head teacher, Malama Aisha, disclosed that the school chairs and tables are available in the school.
According to her, only fifty chairs had been supplied to the school but they are intact. “Since the establishment of the school, only fifty chairs have been supplied. I am certain they are available there.”
Muhammad Ado, a Lafiya resident, countered her position alleging that he had once seen a person parking away chairs and broken tables in a cart from the school.
“I once saw a person one evening taking chairs and broken tables around Maghrib (evening prayer time). And you know the school has no watchman,” he noted.
She denied that officials from the LGEA instructed her to surrender the school properties to them.
Speaking on the challenges, School Based Management Committees (SBMC) of the schools admit that they are facing perennial thievery and burglary from multiple sources. Katanga Central SBMC Chairman, Mal. Sirajo Idris, who spoke on their behalf, affirmed that the trio of teachers, community and the leadership of Warji LGEA share the blame for the challenge in the schools.
He lamented that the lack of regular watchmen occasioned by deliberate absconding by the watchman in Katanga Central Primary School in particular enabled thieves to take advantage of the situation.
While the SBMC under his leadership is taking some measures to remedy the situation, Sirajo accused Warji LGEA Education Secretary, Musa Barde, of taking advantage of the situation.
“We have taken a number of actions in the Central Primary School because of these happenings.
“I approached the former chairman because the school has no watchman to supply one. The watchman absconded from duty and I lodged complaints several times to the LGEA/ES. The watchman is still not doing his work and he gets his salary probably because he is being protected. It is a casual watchman that is working now that is why the school is at least now somehow protected.
“At one point a thief was apprehended and made to pay for the stolen doors and windows. He was fined 160, 000 to be used to replace the doors. He paid 30, 000 to the ES instead of giving us the money. The ES did not fix the doors and couldn’t account for the money,” the SBMC chair alleged.
Education secretary reacts, denies shielding watchman, taking money
Warji LGEA Education Secretary, Musa Adamu Barde, has reacted to the issues raised including allegation of pocketing the fine meant to replace stolen doors and windows.
Barde denied that LGEA officials took part in plundering the school resources and blamed the community solely for the crimes.
“When anyone from the office demands such materials the headmasters should give us in writing. It is mostly youths from the neighbourhood. We often have problems with schools in town.”
He, however, admitted that “we have an acute dearth of watchmen and some schools can be stolen to empty because we don’t have the staff. In some schools, a single teacher serves as a teacher for all subjects, a cleaner, a watchman etc.”
While further blaming the quality of the furniture and over use by Islamiyya schools, the ES could not explain why the broken chairs aren’t preserved for repairs.
He claimed that some roofing materials are kept in the office for subsequent use in other places but couldn’t provide details or show the materials.
On the alleged syphoning of a fine paid to his office, Barde refuted claims of any wrongdoing attributed to him. He also explained that the watchman that absconded was sick. “The watchman was even taken to the district head office but he explained that he was sick. Recently I learned that he was operated on as a result of an eye problem. Although he did not inform us officially, we have employed a volunteer guard man.”
“When the thief was arrested, he was fined some money and he paid some before he stopped. Honestly, if they say he paid 30,000 that is not true. He was fined 30,000 and he started paying then he disappeared, he could not be found. So the case is now between the head of planning, research and statistics (PRS) and the security. I don’t know how much he paid, it is the head of Planning, Research and Statistics (PRS) that knows that.”
However, when contacted, the head of PRS of the LGEA, Malam Salisu Mohammed, declined to comment and argued that he could not talk to the press as only the education secretary can talk about the issue.
This publication is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
