By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, says his administration had spent the sum of N19 billion on construction and renovation of 948 classrooms in several schools across the state from 2015 to date.
A breakdown of these show that while 388 new classrooms were built, 460 others were renovated within the period.
The governor disclosed this on Sunday when he inaugurated the 2018 marching grant projects and distribution of intent letters to successful contractors, at an event held at the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) headquarters.
Other structures erected with the amount were offices and stores also spread across the state in different schools, a statement by the Spokesperson to the governor, Muhammad Bello issued on Sunday, said.
These are in addition to 23 school gardens and 23 boreholes that were constructed, while five schools were fenced and three more rehabilitated to secure both pupils and property.
According to Tambuwal, “the amount does not reflect the counterpart fund by the federal government’s Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which stands at about N7.2 billion, in addition to the intervention funds provided through the state ministry for local government affairs, totalling N6 billion.”
He further revealed that the amount spent excludes the N2 billion provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to sponsor the construction of more classrooms without any marching grant from federal government.
Governor Tambuwal added that his administration, having taken cognizance of the large population of students that require basic education, decided to dedicate 26% of its budget to classrooms construction.
This he explained, had resulted in the provision of more structures, procurement of large consignment for teaching and learning materials, employment of more qualitative teachers as well as capacity development.
The governor cautioned contractors against substandard jobs, saying that government will not accept such as he directed SUBEB to ensure strict compliance to contract specifications.
In his remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto, Saadu Muhammad, who was represented by Sarkin Yaki Binji, Kabiru Usman, lauded the state government polices and programme on education.
He assured the government of the Sultanate council’s continued support and cooperation in the execution of all its programmes for the development of the state.
In his remarks the SUBEB chairman, Hon Shuaibu Gwanda Gobir, said the state government has procured and distrubuted assorted instructional materials to the tune of N71 million to basic education schools.
He added that it has also paid counterpart funds for the smooth take -off of the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme, in addition to prompt payment of marching grants counterpart funds up to date.
In a good will message, the coordinator of UBEC office in Sokoto, Hajiya Mairo Usman stated that the state government has paid all its marching grants up to 2019.
Highlight of the ceremony ceremony was the distribution of motorcycles to monitoring officers of BESDA.
