Poorly executed project leaves Niger school in dire learning condition

As this reporter ventured into the premises of Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, Minna, Niger State, students were seen sitting on the windowsills, their faces reflecting boredom with their classroom inconveniences, while loud noises of others echoed from various areas of the school.

Established in 1958, the school, one of the first missionary schools taken over by the Niger State government, was renowned for its high-quality learning and facilities for students, including boarding houses. However, all its glories have long been lost due to neglect. It is now in a state of disrepair leaving students to learn in an inconducive environment.

Usman Adam, a father-of-two, said he considered enrolling his two elder children in the school when he was transferred to the city for his teaching job in 2020.

The news about the school’s standards convinced him of his initial decision, but he was disappointed by his first visit to the school, as he observed collapsing buildings and inadequate classrooms.

“At first, I was motivated by the school’s offering of both Western and Islamic education, so I intended to enroll my children in the boarding section. To my surprise, when I visited the school, I found classrooms without windows or ceilings. In some classes, I saw students crowded onto benches, with four or five of them sharing one seat,” Mr Adam said.

“When I realised that the poor condition of their facilities could affect my children, I decided to find another school for them,” he added.

Not only Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, but also many of the earliest schools in the state have suffered neglect, with collapsing structures that have not been renovated for 40 years, resulting in severe states of deterioration.

The sorry state of deteriorated infrastructure in Niger State schools is linked to underfunding in the education sector. The state, since 2017 has experienced declining funding for the sector. Funds released to the section often fall short against the yearly allocation.

To facelift the long standing dire infrastructure across some schools in the state, a Whole School Development Approach was launched.

Whole School Development Approach is an initiative of the immediate past governor, Abubakar Bello, led-government to improve the infrastructure of public schools in the state, providing conducive learning and teaching environments for students and teachers.

The initiative’s scope aims to comprehensively renovate and refurbish the benefiting schools.

In 2021, Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, along with five other schools, was captured for total renovation under the second phase of the initiative, following the completion of nine schools in the first phase which gulped N3 billion.

For Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, the Niger State Ministry of Education in 2021 awarded the “remodeling” of the school to BD+arch at N427 million under the supervision of the state’s Ministry of Works & Infrastructure Development.

“It is going to be the whole school, because we are rebuilding it completely, and hopefully it would provide for a conducive environment for the students and teachers,” Mr Bello said while addressing the press during the inspection of the project in 2022.

On UDEME’s visit to the school in June, it was observed that the project was poorly executed and did not meet the expected quality and scope of work. Little of what UDEME found could justify the amount expended on the project.

The contractor’s shoddy work left a few of the classroom blocks with only their exteriors plastered, while their interiors remained bare bricks, while also neglected to install ceilings, making the students endure intense heat under the scorching sun.

A student told UDEME that they were moved to the classroom after it became apparent that the work had stopped on the project. He added that they are facing challenges in comfortably staying in their classrooms.

“Since the rainy season has started, we’ll stop our classes when rain starts and try to find a better corridor to hide [in] because they didn’t put in windows, and water often enters (blows in) and wets our bags,” he said.

Mr Abdulmalik said they most times struggle to regain their stability to continue their classes after the rain had stopped. “Till we close for the day, our bodies won’t catch up with the learning mood.”

A teacher from the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media about the school’s affairs, expressed resentment over the poor work done by the contractor. He revealed that the project was not completed before the contractor vacated the site.

“They may not want to tell you the real truth, but at least you can see it for yourself. There is no need to explain that the work was poor. The former governor came to inspect the project while it was ongoing, now see how the project ended.

“If you’ve gone around, you will see that they didn’t provide any windows or materials to aid in a conducive learning environment. Our toilets and other facilities were not touched either. Some of the classrooms you saw that they painted have windows and a few pieces of furniture in them and are even better than those classrooms that were left without much work,” the teacher said.

Maryam Suleiman, whose daughter attends the school, revealed to UDEME that the lack of appropriate supervision may have hindered the project’s quality completion. She said that the government should have ensured the contractor completes the work before leaving.

“This school is one of the big old schools in the state. The government doesn’t pay attention to renovating it in the past. But with this particular one that you mentioned they invested money, they should hold the contractor accountable to complete the job properly, so that the students and teachers can enjoy a conducive environment,” she said.

Tesleem Hamzah, a community elder, also expressed concerns over the uncompleted work on the project and said the execution didn’t involve community supervision. He added that leaving some of the classrooms unfinished affects the quality of learning in the school.

“Sometimes, you will find their students leaving the school before closing time, that may be because they don’t find the environment enjoyable, meanwhile the project meant to improve their infrastructure was poorly executed. They just re-roofed and replastered a few buildings,” Mr Hamzah said.

“The project is over three years now, it may not be easy to question the contractor for the poor work but if the government can do it, they need to ask him to come to do the work properly.”

“We have limitations”—School head

The principal of the school, Abdul Aliyu, failed to attend to UDEME’s inquiries. He said he needed permission from the state ministry of education before responding.

“I didn’t want a situation where if we let you enter the hostel, dining, classes, or any information, the ministry would ask me, who authorised you? So for me to allow you to go on without any directive, it is not proper because we have limitations.”

He told the reporter to write to the Niger State Ministry of Education for permission before he could address his questions.

However, an FOI addressed and delivered to the Permanent Secretary of the Niger State Ministry of Education on 6 June, inquiring detailed information, was not responded to. Also, during a follow-up visit to the ministry on 3rd July, his secretary told the reporter that his principal was not available.

Efforts to reach the contractor were futile as the company’s contact was inaccessible, and a request sent to its email asking about the project was not responded to as of the time of filing this report.