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50 out of 60 govt schools in 25 Niger LGAs have no fence – Gov Bello

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The Niger State governor, Abubakar Bello, said on Saturday 50 out of 60 public schools in 25 local government areas of the state have no fence.

The governor, disclosed this to journalists in Minna, added that some schools in the state have not been painted in the last 40 years.

He was speaking on ongoing efforts by the state government to ensure the release of abducted students and staff of Government Science College, Kagara.

Armed bandits had in the early hours of Wednesday abducted 27 students and staff of the college.

The hoodlums also killed one student during the attack on the school.

The governor decried the deteriorated state of the college.

READ ALSO: Gov Bello confirms negotiation for release of abducted Kagara students

He, however, said the problem did not start with his administration, stressing that it would take 20 years to fix the infrastructure deficit in schools in Niger State.

Bello said: “Some of the schools have been built 40 years ago. Some of them have not seen paints in 40 years; no paints, no fence. 40 years ago there was a bit of peace, we do not have the security challenges we have now. But now, our schools must be fenced.

“So, when we came in 2015, we started the ‘Old School Approach’. Basically, what we did was to start rebuilding schools. Each school cost close to about N350million or more to do. They were so bad that they didn’t have toilets and no fence. They had blown off roofs with staff living in very bad conditions. So, we decided instead of doing temporary measures, we should rebuild those schools.”

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