Leaky roofs, broken chairs… poorly executed projects in Niger state forcing pupils out of school

BY ABUBAKAR ABDULRASHEED

Once a vibrant hub of learning for pupils, Kodo Primary School in Bosso LGA of Niger state now resonates a stark contrast to its heyday when it had over 500 pupils with elevated staff ethics.

The school was built by the Kodo community in 1976 and later taken over by the government. However, it has suffered neglect due to underfunding and understaffing over the years. All the classrooms have become dilapidated, The pupils now sit on bare floors behind cracked walls and blown-off roofs to learn.

The school has no nursery section, while structures for primary three and six have collapsed.

Kodo is not alone. Other primary schools in the Bosso/Paikoro federal constituency are in this state, yawning for government attention. Pmasi, Chimbi, and Bwafiyi primary schools have also experienced a significant decline in pupil enrollment due to their broken classrooms.

The challenge of deteriorating infrastructure and lack of provision for learning have put off the flame of quality education in the schools and caused more parents to lose interest in enrolling their children in the schools for fear of a possible collapse of the remaining few still-standing classrooms. Many parents have also withdrawn their children from these schools.

In 2022, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) announced that the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has climbed to 20 million. Although there are no latest data on the percentage of this from Niger state, past records showed that up to 700,000 children in the state are out of school.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, a 58-year-old farmer in the Kodo community, desired quality education for his children. Still, due to concern about a possible collapse of the school structures, he withdrew his two children from the community school to a primary school in Beji, a neighbouring town. Going to Beji takes up to 20 minutes by car.

“The community has been the one maintaining the school infrastructure to keep them safe for the pupils. We used to contribute money to patch the cracked walls, repair the blown-off roofs, and even give them some planks to sit on,” Abdullahi said.

He further said the decay had become so severe that the community could no longer afford the repairs.

“That was why I went to withdraw my children from the school because those classrooms can collapse anytime. Even when it is raining, there is no safe place for the pupils to hide,” Abdullahi added.

However, two projects which ought to save the schools were poorly executed.

THE POORLY EXECUTED PROJECTS

Just when all the schools had fallen into a near-extinct state, two classroom projects were initiated to facelift four schools in the two LGAs of the constituency.

In 2020, Sheu Barwa, the former lawmaker representing Bosso/Paikoro federal constituency of Niger state, facilitated two classroom projects in the area. The project includes the construction of a block of three classrooms in two schools in each LGA of the constituency, Bosso and Paikoro LGAs.

About N68 million was allocated for the two projects and was assigned to the Border Community Development Agency (BCDA).

However, the construction in Bosso LGA was awarded to Zeppelin International Concepts Limited at N39 million while those in Paikoro were awarded to Simdi West Africa Limited at N29 million.

A document UDEME received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation stated that all constituency projects for that year have been fully funded.

The beneficiary schools in the Bosso LGA were Kodo and Pmasi Primary Schools, while Chimbi and Bwafiyi Primary Schools benefited from the one for the Paikoro LGA.

When UDEME visited these schools in July, it was observed that the projects were poorly executed as all the classroom buildings had cracked and their roofs leaking or blown off, while their furniture had broken.

The poor execution of the projects does not allow the schools to function at full capacity as in their glorious days.

Parents and staff of the schools said their initial joy for the projects was soon taken over with disappointments as the buildings began to fall apart, returning the schools to a state of disrepair.

Usman Abubakar, the headmaster of Kodo Primary School, said the pupils started using the classrooms towards the end of 2022 and the facilities, including the building and furniture, were declining due to bad quality.

“We didn’t even know the contractor; they used to come and work during weekends and holidays. It was abandoned many times before they completed it. It was under lock for a year before they supplied us with furniture. I heard other benefitted schools also experienced the same,” the headmaster said.

“When there was no classroom for us to use again, we broke the keys and moved into the building. The classrooms were leaking when we moved in.”

Abubakar added that the primary school could not conduct the third term examination before it proceeded on holiday because the roof had been blown off and there was consistent rainfall.

“All our existing classrooms have become broken and no longer in use. Now, this one we hoped it would save us has also been dilapidated. Our enrollment has been reduced so badly. Before, we did have over 500 pupils, but the number reduced and it is about 100 pupils now. Many pupils have stopped coming to school; some have been withdrawn to another school.” he added

Muhammad Musa, the Kodo village head, said the poor construction of the classrooms could not rescue the school from its dire infrastructure needs. He noted that rainfall often forces the school to shut down due to leaky roofs.

“What difference does it make when the new construction is not done well and pupils still sit on the floor? Whenever the rain is set, they have to close school that day because of the leaking roofs and the part that has been blown off.” Musa said.

The stories in other beneficiary schools were not far from what was found in Kodo. Despite the projects, the schools continue to long for a quality infrastructure that can protect the children from hazards.

At Bwafiyi Primary School, only one classroom is in use; others are leaking and the furniture supplied has broken.

Bincent Iliya, the headmaster of the school, said he had to merge pupils of the school into the two classrooms they were using before the project was initiated, while primary two and three were merged in a classroom provided by the project.

“No classroom from the government since 2003 when the school was established. This is the only block of two small classrooms we have and it was built through community efforts. When they came to build this for us, we hoped we would have more classrooms for our pupils; but due to poor construction, we can no longer use it because it is always leaking.” Iliya said.

“There was a time when the rainstorm blew off the entire roof when we’d not even started using it. They came to repair it but it is still leaking. You can also see that the furniture they gave us has been broken; many of the pupils still have to sit on the floor.”

He also said the teachers use a shed provided by a tree as an office, and the new project provided none.

LGA CHAIRMAN REACTS

Abubakar Gomna, the former Bosso LGA chairman, told UDEME that he was unaware of the project execution.

“I can authoritatively tell you that, at the onset of the construction, they didn’t inform us at the local government authority, which is the closest to the masses,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of his principal, Sanusi Salihu, the secretary to Barwa, admitted that there was poor execution of the projects by the contractors.

“Contractors even disappointed us. All those places you visited, those structures are not even good to our standards. If you see how I was fighting with the contractor, I had to involve the executive secretary of that agency before those projects were completed,” Salihu said.

“When those projects were ongoing, I received complaint letters with pictures of poor implementations from the communities and the schools. The contractor collected money and abandoned our sites. As of the time he was being pressured to complete the projects, he didn’t have money. He was now looking for ways to do the project by subcontracting it to someone. Look at the standard of the work, you’ll think they are community efforts.”

An FOI response received from the BCDA revealed some specifications of the projects which the contractors failed to meet, like standard size specifications and electrical service features.

A staff of the agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that the total contract amounts for both projects were initially released to the contractors, but part of that was later refunded to the government’s account following an investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). The commission had revealed disparities in the project executions and a lack of required qualities and specifications.

“My knowledge about those projects after handling over, there was a time, you know ICPC do this tracking of projects, they went to the sites and they complained about some things like substandard and lack of qualities, they compelled the contractors to make some refunds back to the government, and which was done.”

However, he couldn’t ascertain how much was refunded by the contractors.

UDEME’s investigation revealed that both companies, Zeppelin International Concepts Limited, and Simdi West Africa Limited, were managed by the same people. Letters of inquiry sent were received by the same person, Obasi Edna, who claimed to be the secretary for both companies.

Edna admitted both companies are controlled by the same management.

Reacting to the poor execution of the projects, she blamed the schools for poor maintenance of the buildings.

“They were the ones that spoiled everything. Since 2020 till now, are we supposed to go back? We already completed the project,” she said.

This report was produced under the UDEME project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).