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 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. 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.
“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.” “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.
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. “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.
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.