Metro
BENUE: Over 20,000 pupils forced out of school by herdsmen attacks —SUBEB boss
The recurrent Fulani herdsmen attacks in Benue State has forced over 20,000 pupils out of school in the State, the chairman of Benue State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Rev. Philip Tachin, has said.
According to Tachin, the number is those that were forced out in 2018 alone through armed attacked on various communities in the State.
Rev Tachin further explained that close to 18,000 of the school children were taking refuge in various Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps established by the state government to cater for the needs of victims of the crisis.
Tachin disclosed this at the weekend shortly after he led members of the board’s management team on an inspection of completed and ongoing primary school projects constructed under the Benue State government and the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, intervention fund.
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He said: “The renewed herdsmen attacks in 2018 also led to the complete destruction of structures in over 50 public primary schools in the affected areas and communities of the state.
“The development is quite a huge challenge for the state government, given the amount of resources that would be required to rebuild the affected structures.”
Tachin also said that aside from the initial 740 that has been rehabilitated, more primary schools had been slated for rehabilitation before the end of Governor Samuel Ortom’s first tenure.
He said: “From available records and our findings, of the 740 projects 426 have been completed while 229 were still under construction and rehabilitation while 79 of the projects have been terminated.”
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