Posted by Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi State, has voiced his disappointment in the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) due to reports of corruption there.
Mohammed, who couldn’t disguise his surprise, stated that despite billions of naira being spent on the projects, even some of the schools the management of the board claimed to have restored or built so far are inadequate.
This is because he promised that those found guilty after government investigations would be fired.
The meeting with the Secretaries of Local Government Education Authority took place on Monday at the Government House, where he issued the warning. Jamila Mohammed Dahiru, the Commissioner of Education; Barr Ibrahim Mohammed Kashim, the State Government Secretary; and a few SUBEB board members were also present at the meeting.
After spending so many years in the state, he says, “our state Universal Basic Education Board is not doing anything,” despite the fact that the state boasts that it has restored and erected more than five thousand classrooms.
Some of the schools that have been supposedly refurbished or rebuilt look terrible, and others have problems with things like leaking roofs.
We spent N3 billion just last year, but I have no idea where that money went. The schools are in the same predicament as the year before, when we spent N5 billion, and the year before that, when we spent N9 billion.
Someone is actively working to undermine our efforts. If we are going to announce a state of emergency in education, we need to first declare a state of emergency in our own performance.
Mohammed said that during a tour of one of the schools he found an old school with about 20 classrooms, where the students were sitting on the mats, and that the building itself was dilapidated, with the roofing already blown off by the wind, as an example of the deteriorating conditions of schools in the state.
There are still a number of mega schools that haven’t been counted or considered for refurbishment by the board.
To paraphrase, “I have done my best, but it certainly appears there is no supervision, no control, and it is business as usual.”
The governor, who also criticized the Local Government Education Authority, said that the turnover rate of school instructors is ridiculous, and that the LGEA’s claimed employment of a large number of teachers is in stark contrast to the reality on the ground.
I am really dissatisfied with the performance of all managers. Everything from yours truly to the State Government Secretary who oversees SUBEB, the Ministry of Education, and the Local Government Education Authorities. Nothing is being done by them. It’s all for show and profit, nothing more.