A Coalition of Stakeholders on Education in Kano State says it supports the ongoing demolition of illegal structures erected in public schools, embarked upon by the government.
The coalition comprises the unions of academic and non academic staff of the state-owned higher institutions.
It also urged the state government to periodically embark of public advocacy on reclaiming government assets that were allegedly sold to individuals by the previous administration.
The chairman of the coalition, Ibrahim Usman Aikawa, made the remark while addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Kano.
Aikawa also urged the general public to support the action so far taken by Gov. Abba Kabir Yusuf.
“This press conference is also called to ginger public support and to reiterate our 100 per cent support for the action taken so far by His Excellency.
“Of course, we acknowledge that changes that have been effected for societal benefits will be fiercely resisted by a few reactionary and retrogressive forces that have kept the teeming masses of our good state in perpetual ignorance and abject penury.
“This brings to fore the famous quote by Nelson Mandela that: “Education is the most powerful weapon one can use to change the world.
“These anti-progressive forces have taken their game a notch higher by carving out lands that belong to public schools and converting them to residential buildings, plazas, corner shops, event centres etc.
“If this ugly scenario is allowed to persist, the future looks very bleak for the downtrodden whose children attend public schools, ” he added.
The coalition dismissed the claim by one of the owners of the building at Kano State Polytechnic that he spent over N800 million to build a house on a land he acquired at the premises of the school.
“At this juncture, I will like to draw our attention to the much-discussed private structure erected in Kano Polytechnic, with the owner claiming to have spent over N800 million to build a house there.
“The children of individuals with the financial wherewithal to build an edifice worth N800 million will most certainly not attend any public school in Kano and Nigeria at large.
”But here he is occupying public school land with passion and caring less about the effect of his action on education.”
It called on Gov. Yusuf to initiate a new culture of protecting public properties against the lustful acquisitive tendencies of private individuals.
"By this, the public would be emboldened to protect government properties with decorum, thereby protecting and saving uninformed beneficiaries,” he said.