Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) has arrested Education Secretary, School Headmaster, and 3 others over the dismantling and illegal sale of school furniture and metals at a primary school in the Kumbotso local government area.
The suspects were on Saturday arrested when they were caught in the act on the school premises.
Senior Special Reporter to Kano State Governor on Anti-Corruption, Malam Sani Umar Sani who confirmed the development said that some residents who were conducting physical exercise early on Saturday observed some movement and noise at Gaidar Makada Special Primary School, Kumbotso local government area, only to discover that the school furniture were been dismantled and the metals assembled and carted away.
‘’One of the residents who is a neighbour of the school said that early on Saturday a man with some young boys were heading towards the classrooms of the school but were accosted by the security guard and after a little explanation were allowed into the classrooms.
Later the resident said there was heavy noise coming out of the classrooms that warranted him checking the place only to discover that they were dismantling the school furniture and the metals assembled.’’
‘’He subsequently informed the School Based Management Committee, SBMC, Chairman, Malam AbdulGafar Sanusi Garba who said he was not aware of the action and the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman, Malam Alkassim Muhammad was as well notified.
According to them, they were not in the picture as the school headmaster, Malam Yusuf had sacked them without completing their tenure.
They said the local government education secretary was notified of their removal unilaterally by the headmaster as they were appointed by the community.
‘’The education secretary promised us to look into the issue but we never heard anything from him.’’
‘’Hence with the development we saw this morning, we asked them why they were dismantling the school bench and other furniture and they said the items would be sold to people that are ready to buy them on the instruction of the school authority.’’
‘’We then took the video of the items and notified the state anti-corruption agency.’’
A credible source at the commission said that among those arrested is one of the people who buys the metals and the iron rods from the furniture.
the dismantled furniture valued at over two million naira were sold by the suspects for N250,000.
It was gathered that the antigraft agency has launched an investigation into the issue as those arrested are in its custody.
A credible source at the commission informed this newspaper that this may account for the dismantling of furniture in most of the primary schools in the state for the metals and irons to be illegally sold.
The source said the agency is already working on the development of software that would take inventory of items in schools across the state and notify it if any of them are tempered with.
