Gombe north leaders want schools closed over Boko Haram insurgency reopened 

Leaders and some stakeholders from Gombe North Senatorial District in Gombe State have decried the poor state of education in the area, as they called on the government to put a stop on the continued closure of all the boarding schools in the area.

The leaders blamed the backwardness of education in their area on the closure of schools, saying if the secondary schools closed on the account of Boko Haram insurgency which had been over in the area in the last four years, the schools ought to have reopened.

While speaking at a press briefing on the state of the zone and its stand on the forthcoming 2019 general elections, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of Gombe North Unity and Development Association (GONUDA), Alhaji Muhammad Musa Kafarati, lamented that  the situation had also made many of their children to go into drug abuse and other social vices thus making the zone to produce the largest number of out of school children.

According to him, “there is scarcity of teachers as a result of the rural nature of the zone and lack of social amenities and  the poor state of literacy is worsened by near absence of demand from the community as the parents are sceptical of advantages of education and consequently they do not encourage school enrollment of their children into available schools.

“At this juncture, we humbly wish to call on the state government to reopen the closed boarding secondary schools in the area. The Schools are, Government Science Secondary School Nafada, Government Science Secondary school Dukku and Government Girls Secondary School Malala. We believe that the security situation has greatly improved.”

While speaking on the stand of the zone in the build up to the 2019 general elections, GONUDA said that it will push for a decent electioneering campaigns through sensitisation and counselling of candidates to avoid hateful speeches and abusive campaigns.

It added that  it will work in collaboration with INEC, the electorate, Civil Society Organisations, the Press and all concerned stakeholders for a peaceful, free, fair and successful elections.

“We will equally admonish the electorate to vote with their conscience and elect only leaders adjudged suitable, capable and willing to move our zone and Gombe State forward. Money politics should be avoided in order not to mortgage the future of our citizens now and in the future”, he stressed.