The member representing Chibok, Gwoza, Damboa constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, Ahmed Babawo has said that any contractor found to have misappropriated funds meant for the Government College Chibok will surely be made to refund same.
Babawo who interacted with newsmen on Monday in Chibok said that no chances will be taken to retrieve the N500 million pumped into the school by President Goodluck Jonathan if evidence clearly shows that the contractors fleeced funds meant to rebuild the school.
Many contractors have come and gone and reporters were told that since the school was burnt down by Boko Haram insurgents, leaving the structures abandoned until recently that Governor Babagana Zulum surmoned courage to complete the project.
The legislator said he was not in the know of how many contractors that have been involved in the project which has lasted almost seven years but vowed that as long as he remains the chairman of the ad hoc committee on the House to investigate, all funds owed by contractors for job not done in the school will be retrieved even if it means using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC to get it out from them.
When asked how far his committee has gone with the investigation on the money pumped by the Federal government into the structure, he went on : “Actually we are yet to start work unless they can call for an inaugural meeting. I will not be able to tell you how much.
“It is our business to find out if the N500m promised by President Goodluck Jonathan has been released. We are also aware that this school was supposed to be covered by the safe school initiative and if it is not, why not now that it has been completed?
“We will ensure that the cash is used for what it is intended for. As the member representing this constituency, we are happy however that the Governor has renovated the entire school from scratch to what it is now after it was destroyed completely by rain storm and made inhabitable.”
The Government College Chibok was desecrated by Boko Haram insurgents who drove into the school, 14th April 2014 and abducted 276 girls who were in their dormitory waiting to sit for the Senior School Certificate Examination – SSCE.
In the process of ferrying the teenagers using trucks and trailers into the Sambisa, 57 escaped in one way or the other while 115 are still with the captors who claim to have married a lot of them off to willing buyers or commanders across the Tumbus islands and in foreign countries.
Teachers were also not left out in the damnation that occurred for the first time of in the history of the country, although some of them escaped, their homes were all burnt down, leaving them in sorrow and tears.
About fifteen teachers lost everything they had because their homes were completely burnt down by the insurgents who laid waste the entire school which was a bastion of female education until it’s present conversation to a co-educational system.
Regardless of this tragedy of 2014, metro watch checks reveal that the Federal government has not been able to protect several students in the northern part of the country who have been picked cheaply in secondary and tertiary Schools without any resistance from our security forces.
They seem to be waiting for the worse tragedy to happen before they scrap temporarily boarding facilities in secondary schools until security improves drastically.
By Samuel Kayode
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