By Abubakar Baba Ahmad.
The Cases of Theft and Vandalism of Educational infrastructure in the basic education sub sector in Bauchi State has taken an alarming dimension prompting the state government to sponsor an executive bill to regulate the activities of Scrap Scavengers popularly known as Bola Jari in Hausa.
The step followed persistent theft of Window, Doors, Chairs, Desks, and even roofing sheets by either suspected hoodlums or sometimes people of same community across dozens of schools in the state.
The case of stealing roofing sheets, desks, windows and doors across the state is now getting the required attention as one of the perpetrators met his loo when Kundum Community in Bauchi local government succeeded in apprehending and handing over the suspect to security agents.
The suspect identified as Umar Abubakar Doctor Kundum a one-time aspirant vying for the State Assembly seat of Zungur, Galambi and Miri was caught allegedly stealing desks from Yelwan Kundum Primary School.
Narrating the ordeal to Radio Nigeria, the Village Head of Kundum, Ward Head of Yelwan Kundum and the School’s Security Guard Mallam Nuhu Idris, Nasiru Hussaini and Dan Asabe Master alleged that the suspect who is an indigent of the community came with a Boxer J5 around nine PM on Friday 7 November, and took three desks from the school.
They disclosed that the suspect who tried to run from the scene was arrested and beaten by angry youth, and later taken to hospital before being handed over to the police for further investigation.
The traditional leaders appealed to the state government to ensure that the suspect face the full wrath of the law to serve as deterance to others who have similar mission in the state.
Reacting to the incident, the Permanent Secretary SUBEB Alhaji Abdulhamid Muhammed who said they have been fully briefed by the police on the case, noted that government will do the needful to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“This is a government property, communities are crying that government is not doing ABCD, but now government has provided ABCD, let them defend the ABCD. It’s their own, it’s our own but we are ready to defend our own. God and His Excellency the Governor has given us the mandate and they have entrusted that property to us”, Abdulhamid Mohammed says.
He used the medium to appreciate the entire Kundum community for their effort towards protecting the facilities and urged other communities to emulate the gesture towards repositioning the basic education sub sector.
Also Speaking, the Education Secretary Bauchi local education authority Hajiya Talatu Yakubu who said the suspects are already in jail awaiting commencement of court proceedings, warned that the LEA will not condone such level sabotage.
“We will not tolerate this kind of indiscipline because we can’t just provide seats, classrooms, infrastructure to the students while we find one community to be stealing them or destroying the government property. Whoever wants to remove any of the school property, be it window or roof, they should report as they did with this case, and we thank the Kundum community for being up and doing”, Talatu Yakubu notes.
The Sponsor of the Scrap Scavengers and Illegal Waste Pickers bill and Emir of Duguri Alhaji Adamu Muhammad Duguri who blamed parents, children, communities and other criminal elements for the menace, expressed optimism that the law will surmount the problem of school vandalism in the state.
Meanwhile, State House of Assembly has passed into law the bill seeking to regulate the activities and business of scrap metal scavengers and illegal waste pickers towards addressing the menace which has negatively affected the lives and property of people in the state.
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