Borno's 13-man committee gets 3 weeks to re-open schools

A 13-member committee has been set up by the Borno State government as it works towards reopening school shut down in the midst of intensified Boko Haram attacks.

In a statement issued in Maiduguri, the Secretary to the State Government, Usman Jidda Shuwa, said the committee had been mandated to work out the modalities for reopening schools at the next academic session.

"This 13-member committee is given three weeks within which to submit its report to the government, after which an action would be taken on the reopening of the schools," the statement read.

Many schools in Borno and other North-eastern states, had been shut down due to the insurgency and many others converted into camps for Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the State's Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

Headed by Alhaji Gambo Gubio, the committee has notable personalities in the state, including Dr. Bulama Mali Gubio, Alhaji Haruna Idrisa Timta, Alhaji Musa Inuwa Kubo, Alhaji Abubakar Musa, Alhaji Lawan Shettima Benisheikh, and Mohammed Kauji, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, as members.

Shuwa said the committee is expected to identify public schools, work out modalities to use them for resumption of academic activities while also considering how to manage internally displaced students as well as IDPs currently occupying the schools.