------- John Charles Makurdi

The Executive Secretary, Benue State Teaching Service Board, Prof. Wilfred Uji, on Tuesday stated that the persistent herdsmen attacks on Benue communities, had disrupted the school calendar and forced 300,000 children out of school.

He said, “200,000 of the figure are secondary school students and 100,000 are primary school pupils, which cut across three local government areas.”


Uji, who disclosed this at a press conference in Makurdi, lamented that the crisis had adversely affected the educational system, especially the primary and secondary school system.

He said Government Secondary School, Gbajimba; Government Secondary School, Agasha; Government Science Secondary School, Logo; and Government Secondary School, Ukum, among others, had been burnt or closed down completely by herdsmen.

Uji added that secondary school students and primary school pupils in public schools in Apa, Agatu, Makurdi, Okpokwu and Ogbadibo had also been forced to leave their schools.

“I pray this should stop; otherwise, it is going to be a nightmare. The situation in the IDP camps is so overwhelming that even the mobile schools we established in the camps, it is difficult to control the teaching and learning process as a result of overcrowding. Students, who are displaced and now taking WAEC, even though we moved them to safer centres, are not finding it easy. It’s painful watching students from the IDP camps coming to sit for exams,” Uji said.

The Executive Secretary noted that the situation had been worsened by threats to teachers.

He said, “I was in my office when some of them (teachers) walked in and showed me threat letters and once this kind of letter is written to you, you better take it seriously or the next day, you find yourself in a different form.

“The future of our children is under attack and education in Benue State is under attack and has been compromised completely due to the situation we find ourselves in. In the herdsmen and farmers’ crisis, the isolated targets are usually the schoolchildren.

“If this crisis is between herdsmen and farmers, why the attacks on educational facilities, much the same way like the fight you find in the North-East. There is a connect between the Boko Haram attacks in the North-East and the attacks by Fulani herdsmen in the North-Central in terms of killings and destruction of properties. It is my firm belief that somebody somewhere is trying to destroy the educational standards of Benue.”



Uji appealed to the federal and state governments to address the crisis, “else we might find ourselves not being able to compare with the people of other parts of the country.”

He added, “We are working hard within our lean resources to see how these children can return to their schools and also equip the teachers with necessary intellectual capacity to help in the rehabilitation of the students.

“Take it that a whole school year has been destroyed and when you come back, you are thinking of recovering the whole year lost and it will take more than five to 10 years to recover. The long-term consequences are there. In 100 years to come, our zone will be educationally backward when compared to other zones.”

http://punchng.com/herdsmen-attacks-force-300000-benue-pupils-out-of-school/

Chaiii, this is getting interesting.

Reaping the fruits of sai babarism.

cc lzaa onyeoga

Please Benue should continue to follow APC, gemade , Orton etc

Wow! This has gotten out of hand.. The only way to stop this is by voting buhari out come 2019

Baba no go school and he won't allow innocent children to attend 1. PMB matter tire person, why he has chosen to allow his kinsmen kill freely is something dat will forever hurt him.
U guys should just watch out, from November till after 2019 election fulani herdmen will stop killing and will resume their eveil acts when their chairman wins second term.

newbornmacho:
Please Benue should continue to follow APC, gemade , Orton etc

You think this is about political parties and personalities?

shame on you!

Okoroawusa:

You think this is about political parties and personalities?

shame on you!

My friend, say the truth and shame the devil.
Stop supporting evil for the sake of money.

musa234:
Wow! This has gotten out of hand.. The only way to stop this is by voting buhari out come 2019

The only to stop this is to vote Buhari out?
You need a re-education

Okoroawusa:

The only to stop this is to vote Buhari out?
You need a re-education

You need to return to daura with him.

immhotep:
My friend, say the truth and shame the devil. Stop supporting evil for the sake of money.

Stop supporting evil for the sake of Nairaland likes

Okoroawusa:

Stop supporting evil for the sake of Nairaland likes

The only person supporting land-grabbing herdsmen here is YOU.

cc lzaa onyeoga

None of my business as an Igbo man.

Seems we gonna build an IDP camp for them atop Ogbunike hill and possibly adopt their maidens to satisfy our urge.

I thought they were warriors during the Biafran war.

Ndi ara

those useless zombies supporting buhari will not see this. I pray buhari wins. he will come for them too

Okoroawusa:

You think this is about political parties and personalities?

shame on you!

yes it is 99% about the useless party cobbled together to bring back Fulani murderers to power, greater shame on you

Okoroawusa:

You think this is about political parties and personalities?

shame on you!

People like you should be ashamed of yourselves. Families are being massacared daily and the govt of the day is keeping mute and you want to shout down people for pointing out the obvious.

Benue is being surrounded by this herdsmen,the only safe place for now is the capital;which is also in panic.

These are the dividends of cha(in)nge no thanks to buhari's destructive govt. Buhari is cursed by God and Man.
IF BLOOD OF PEOPLE COULD BE SPILLED AT AN ALAMING RATE IN BUHARI'S FIRST TERM, I SHUDDER TO THINK WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN HIS SECOND AND FINAL TERM!
Buhari is simply a Terrorist, NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS. Nigerians voted a Terrorist as their president.

Okoroawusa:

Stop supporting evil for the sake of Nairaland likes

May herdsmen pay you a family visit insha Allah. Useful Foolhari Media Cows are so senseless to defend anything even when its so glaring that Cowhari is a fool

Bubu sef

Sagamaje:


May herdsmen pay you a family visit insha Allah. Useful Foolhari Media Cows are so senseless to defend anything even when its so glaring that Cowhari is a fool

Amin!!

May herdsmen pay you a family visit insha Allah if Buhari is not behind them and as a President has done nothing about the crisis

Am expecting your Amin!

Okoroawusa:

Amin!!

May herdsmen pay you a family visit insha Allah if Buhari is not behind them and as a President has done nothing about the crisis

Am expecting your Amin!

Amin!!!

Bad.