From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
A senator representing Borno South in the Senate, Mohammed Ndume, has called for a probe of funds raised for the federal government’s Safe Schools Initiative.
Ndume made the demand in an interview with reporters on Tuesday in Government Secondary School, Chibok, where over 200 female students were kidnapped seven years ago.
The senator said it was important government probe the use or whereabout of the money raised for the Safe Schools Initiative in May 2014, though one of the schools targeted in the north, Government Secondary School, Chibok, has been rebuilt by the Borno government.
‘I presented a motion to the Senate but later discovered a similar motion was before the House of Representatives and a committee has been set up to investigate the Safe Schools Initiative. I support the move to investigate what happened to the money,’ he said.
He called on the federal government’s anti-corruption agencies to investigate the contractor paid to rebuild the Chibok school but left the site shortly after the commencement of works
He commended Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum for his determination and courage to reconstruct the Chibok school four years after it was abandoned by the contractor.
A $10 million (about N4.2 billion) fund for the Safe Schools Initiative was launched by the federal government in Abuja in May 2014 to support 500 schools in the northern states. Contract for the rebuilding of Government Secondary School, Chibok, burnt by Boko Haram during the abduction of 276 girls on April 14, 2014, was awarded later.
Then Nigerian finance minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and UN Special Envoy for Global Education, ex-British PM Gordon Brown had visited Chibok to launch the start of the school reconstruction.