Benue uncovers 2,416 unapproved schools

The Benue State government says it has identified over 2,416 unapproved schools in parts of the state. 

The Director-General, Benue State Education Quality Assurance, BEQA Dr. Terna Francis made this known at a meeting with education stakeholders, school proprietors and authorities on the proposed demolition of schools in the state that failed to meet specified building standards. 

He explained that the reason to embark on the demolition was to forestall the collapse of schools in the state especially with the recent incidents in Abuja and Plateau State. 

He said: "the first step is to sensitize stakeholders on the need to ensure that they adhere strictly to laid down standards in building. 

"So, those who are operating in such structures should move to a better one. We are not going to demolish immediately, we want to give them time so that at the end of the day we do not lose any life. The General Manager Urban Development Board has asked them to present their  building plans and all that from now to the end of September. 

"As it is now, we have identified 2,416 schools that do not have the approval of the Benue State government to operate and so far we have cleared only 150 and they have been given certificates of consent. We are calling on others to come do the right thing. We are also, calling on parents to remove their children from such schools before resumption of schools in September and move to schools that are quality assured. 

"We have published their names on our website and shared it with the National Association of Proprietors of Schools, NAPS. Many schools got approval from the back door. There are some structures that are looking like poultry farms. In fact, we want to launch a probe on how they got approvals to operate with such structures?" 

The General Manager of Benue State Urban Development Board, BSUDB, Ternongo Mede who said he was already prepared to remove all the substandard structures being used as schools said, "I recently took a tour of some schools in the North Bank area of Makurdi and it may interest you to know that there is a school that has already cracked and any moment from now it may collapse. 

"After that inspection two days later, there was a collapse in Jos and that gave me sleepless nights because I know what we need to do that we have not done. But with this, most of the schools are going down. Certainly, they will go  down." 

The State Chairman of National Association of Proprietors of Schools, Sunday Ojo appealed to the government to give enough time to schools to grow saying it takes a long time to get a school to be well and fully established. 

He said "on the issue of standards we have also agreed with government that it must be stepped up and we are going to talk to our members to run their schools based on established rules as enshrined in our national curriculum. 

"On taxes, we complained of multiple taxation including annual tuition, registration of business premises collected by the Ministry of Commerce/Trade and tenament rates and all these amounts to over N500,000 yearly. 

"We have complained to the State Assembly about the issue of double taxation and they are looking into it. Note too that schools are not the same particularly those at the rural areas. So when you ask them to pay the same tax, they suffer."