20/09/2024
DISCLAIMER: COUNCIL NOT PLANNING ON SELLING ANY LGEA SCHOOL IN KADUNA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The council has observed,with utter disappointment, how false news have been going around about its purported intention to sell some LGEA schools within the Doka District of Kaduna North Local Government Area.
To set the records straight, the council has been implementing the merger of schools into “Basic 9” schools as contained in the School Disarticulation Policy that was directed by the Human Capital Development Council of the Kaduna State Government in the year 2020; directing that all primary schools located within the same premises be merged, alongside establishing a new junior secondary school (Basic 7 to 9) or merging them with an existing junior secondary school nearby.
Interestingly, the policy directive as stated above was mainly driven by the Kaduna State Ministry of Education, that galvanized other educational stakeholders like the Local Government Education Authorities to key into it at the time.
For the avoidance of any doubt, the merger of schools was implemented by merging the then LEA Kigo Road and LEA Constitution Road; which are located within the same premises and already being encroached by various roadside businesses, into LEA ABS1 and LEA Doka Girls, which are also located in the same premises, and re-named as LEA Kigo Road after a comprehensive rehabilitation of the newly merged school that will run a Basic 9 program as directed.
The council had resolved to convert the old premises of the former LEA Kigo Road and LEA Constitution Road into a “Kigo Road Neighborhood Center” that will have a CJTF Security Outpost, a Healthcare Clinic to serve residents of Kigo New Extension and Kabala Costain area, a Skill Acquisition Center, as well as regularizing the continued stay of these roadside businesses that had encroached the premises of the former schools by making them pay a token annual lease sum for a period of five (5) years; a plan that is currently being implemented.
The renaming and establishment of LEA Doka was as a result of the merging of LEA Gwari Road, LEA Muri Road, and LEA Lagos Street; that were all located in the same premises. The relocation was done by moving the pupils of the three previous schools into the block that housed the previous LEA Lagos Street, leaving the buildings housing LEA Gwari Road and LEA Muri Road vacant; with the council hoping that the Kaduna State Government will convert it into a more suitable educational facility like a girls’ section of the current Basic Education School, Doka (Doka Boys), in order to turn it into a co-ed (unisex) primary and secondary school.
It is therefore disheartening to observe the circulation of a purported letter allegedly authored by the Honorable Commissioner of Education, Kaduna State, directing the council for a reversal of the merger, as if the ministry is not aware of such a policy directive.
At this point, the general public should note that, according to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria (1999), the Kaduna State Education Law (2005), and the Kaduna State Local Government Law (2021): the Kaduna North Local Government Council does not answer to the Kaduna State Ministry for Education, nor does it take directives from the ministry. There are proper laid down channels of communication as laid down in the constitution and the above quoted laws of getting in touch with the local government council, which were flagrantly disregarded by the ministry in order to achieve an alleged political goal of defaming the council leadership’s character.
It will be a sad development indeed, if true, that the Kaduna State Ministry of Education being one of the main pillars of education administration in Kaduna State has been reduced to a political tool by some unseen political actors and, in the process, is becoming a saboteur to its own self in the educational reforms and entrenchment of qualitative education in Kaduna State as championed by the amiable and tireless Kaduna State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Mal Uba Sani.
The council remains resolute in its pursuit of ensuring that it remains a key stakeholder in reforming the basic education system for the betterment of all in Kaduna North Local Government Area in particular, and Kaduna State in general; and will not allow itself to loose focus by being distracted by mischievous political elements.
Jibril Adamu Seze
Council Spokesman
