Lt General Tukur Buratai: Chief of Army Staff

The Nigerian Army on Monday, inaugurated and donated five-classroom blocks it constructed at the primary school in the Bakasi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri.

The classroom blocks were constructed for the children of displaced Persons.

Brig.-Gen. Victor Ezugwu, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 7 Division, while inaugurating the classrooms, said the objective was to safeguard future of the children at the camp by ensuring they were educated.

Ezugwu also inaugurated a 7.5 KVA generator donated by the army for the expansion and reticulation of water supply in the school.

He said that the gesture was in line with the Chief of Army Staff Counter Terrorism Strategy of ensuing bright future for children in terrorism prone areas.

“We constructed five classroom blocks with the capacity for 50 pupils each to tackle the shortage of classrooms in the school.

“Additionally, we are donating 100 dozens of exercise books, 20 dozens of biros, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, mathematical sets, chalks, and markers,’’ he said. Ezugwu added: “we are also donating five quality of 90×120 white board for each classroom’’.

The GOC, who also called for judicious use of the items, said that the donation was conceived after a visit to the school in January.

“Three weeks ago, I went round some duty locations under my area of responsibility and I decided to stop and see how the children were fairing in the camp school.

“I identified series of challenges ranging from inadequate classrooms, lack of water and inadequate teaching materials.

“Consequently, I made a promise to provide the school with some infrastructure and academic materials toward guaranteeing a future for the displaced children.

“The children have shown desire to pursue knowledge which is the key to unlocking illiteracy all over the world,’’ he said.

In his remarks, Mr Inuwa Kubo, the Commissioner for Education in Borno commended the GOC for the gesture and promised to utilise the items judiciously.

(NAN)