Niger to Move All Boarding Schools to Minna

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State Government has decided to relocate all boarding secondary schools in bandit-prone local government areas of the state to Minna, the state capital, as one of the steps to ensure an uninterrupted education of the students.

Most boarding secondary schools in Munya, Shiroro, Rafi Wushishi, and Mashegu Local Government Areas of the state have remained closed for more than three academic sessions as a result of bandits and terrorist attacks resulting in the students either abandoning their education or going to schools from their homes.

To provide land for the construction of classrooms and hostels for the students to be moved, the government has also decided to reclaim all school lands that have been encroached upon by individuals in Minna and other parts of the state.

The state Commissioner for Lands, Mr. Maurice Magaji, told journalists in Minna yesterday that the State Executive Council at its last meeting took the decisions, saying the policy “is a temporary one.”

He, however, maintained that the decision should not be misconstrued that the government had surrendered the fight against banditry and terrorism in the state, adding:  “The government is intensifying efforts to ensure that the war against the criminal elements in the state is won.”

Maurice, who did not give the time frame for the relocation of the schools, said the government has put the necessary machinery in motion for the realisation of the objective.

The commissioner insisted that the government would take back all school lands allocated to individuals, whether it has a certificate of occupancy or not, because the administration needs such lands to expand existing structures to accommodate those schools that will be relocated.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr. Abdullahi Adamu Mammagi, disclosed that the government would clamp down on private tertiary institutions because out of the 56 private tertiary institutions in the state, only 34 passed accreditation tests while 22 are said to be operating without proper accreditation.

He said the majority of these quack private tertiary institutions are Schools of Health Technologies and Nursing, saying: “There is the need for the government to ensure that they meet up with the required standard to operate.”