By Muhammad Nasir
Sokoto State House of Assembly has adopted a motion asking the state government to establish a Junior Secondary School (JSS) at Gangam town in Shagari Local government Area (LGA) of the state.
This development followed a motion moved by Alhaji Maidawa Kajiji (APC- Shagari) and seconded by Alhaji Abubakar Yabo (APC-Yabo) during plenary on Tuesday.
According to Kajiji, the development is in consideration of the state government’s commitment toward the provision of qualitative education for all.
“This is both at the rural and urban areas of the state and considering the growing enrollment of pupils into primary schools in the area.
“It is a fact that students from Gangam and neighboring villages such as Addam, Lokoko, Gidan Daji and Takalmawa have to trek for about 10 km to attend a Junior Secondary School.
“This has continued to cause a lot of hardship to the students and eventual dropout, consequently hindering education development in the area,” he said.
The lawmaker added that the establishment of the JSS would go a long way in alleviating the hardship being experienced by the pupils and thereby uplift the educational development of the area.
The Deputy Speaker, Alhaji Abubakar Magaji, who presided over the sitting, put the motion into a voice vote and it was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers.
In another development, the assembly considered the report of the House Committee on Public Accounts and Anti-Corruption on the 2014 and 2015 Local Government Auditor General Report.
Presenting the report, the committee Chairman, Alhaji Atiku Liman (PDP- Silame), said the committee came up with four observations after scrutiny and meeting with various stakeholders.
He said the committee observed that staff of local government councils in the finance department lacked the capacity and the technical experience to perform and this culminated in their poor keeping of financial records
“It have been observed that the late submission of reports by the Auditor-General of Local Governments makes the work of the committee to be very difficult.
“The Local Government Auditor-General should submit reports on time to enable the committee to monitor and track queries and issues raised on time,” he said.
He said that as a matter of necessity, the Auditor-General should audit the accounts of local government education authorities, as they have never been submitted to the committee. (NAN)
