About N500 million meant to rebuild the Chibok school, devasted by Boko Haram insurgents two years ago, may have been diverted, an official has said.
The money was announced by the past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and was meant to rebuild the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state, after Boko Haram insurgents destroyed it and kidnapped over 200 girls from the school in 2014.
Jonathan’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had flown to Chibok in March 2015 to inaugurate the N500 million rebuilding project under the Safe School Initiative programme.
A statement from the finance ministry said, then, that the new school was expected to have a state of the art library, a laboratory, a computer and ICT Centre, a sports arena and a clinic.
Two years after the foundation laying programme and announcement by the government, nothing appeared to had been done in the school as students of the school remained at home.
It is not clear if the past administration did release part or all of the N500 million.
When he visited Chibok yesterday, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno called for detailed investigation of what happened to the N500 million.
Shettima told residents of Chibok that his administration would pressurise the federal government to uncover those who might have diverted the money.
The governor lamented that a lot of individuals and groups have turned the misfortune of Boko Haram victims into a money making venture.
He said it was important to determine how much was released to the contractor handling the project as the school has remained in a state of disrepair.
Shettima first arrived in Chibok to celebrate Boxing Day with the residents of the town.
The governor who arrived Chibok town in the afternoon spent the whole Monday in the town where he participated in a series of lined up activities slated for the Boxing Day.
A high point of the governor’s stay in Chibok was his meeting with the 21 schoolgirls that were freed by Boko Haram insurgents in October 2016.
The girls were freed following a deal the federal government had with Boko Haram.
The 21 girls, who had been in custody of the federal government in Abuja, were brought to Chibok in order to celebrate their first Christmas since their abduction over two years ago.
In Chibok, the girls were not allowed to savour the kind of freedom they were used to before their abduction. They were escorted by armed soldiers and officials of the State Security Service everywhere they went.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the girls could not spend Christmas with their families despite being in Chibok.
