From Bashir Rabe Mani, Sokoto
The Sokoto State Government has ermbakred on the upgrading of 56 schools to Primary and Junior as well as Senior Secondary statuses.
Our Correspondent in Sokoto reports that the multimillion projects are to be completed within the next one year under the Adolescents Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment ( AGILE) Project.
Our Correspondent further reports that the sites of the various projects were handed over to the respective contractors on Tuesday across Sokoto State.
Speaking at the event in the various locations, Engineer Zayyanu Almu Alkanchi, Component Lead, 1.2, AGILE, disclosed that 28 of the schools are to be upgraded from primary to Junior Secondary Schools.
Also, 28 Junior Secondary Schools are scheduled to be upgraded to Senior Secondary schools, all under the noble gesture of the Sokoto State Government.
According to Engineer Alkanchi, each of the 56 schools will have a block of four laboratories including those of Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Computer Science.
In the same vein, each of the 56 schools will get a block of twelve classrooms, multi-purpose halls, solar-powered boreholes and a block of fourteen conveniences, seven each for male and female students.
Also speaking, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Alhaji Muhammadu Chika, urged the benefitting schools to safeguard the projects from vandalism, as well as ensure their routine maintenance.
The Director also said that the gesture of the state government is aimed at bolstering students’ enrollment and retention in schools.
He also appealed to the various contractors to ensure the execution of the projects according to the specifications and the appropriate duration.
Also speaking, the President, Sokoto State chapter of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Alhaji Muhammadu Iklilu, commended Gov. Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto for according top-most priority in the last three years.
He, however, urged the members of the association to ensure the strict supervision of the projects to ensure that the contractors do not execute shoddy jobs.
In all the schools visited, the various contractors pledged to execute the projects according to the contractual specifications.
Also, the Principals and officials of the Schools-based Management Committed, vowed to ensure that the contractors execute quality projects.
