The governorship candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Borno State, Alhaji Mohammed Jajari, has criticised the Borno State government under Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of constructing mega schools across the state without qualified teachers to man the schools.
The opposition candidate said notwithstanding the inadequacy of teachers in the state, the government still embarked on retrenchment of existing ones.
Jajari, who said this while addressing party supporters on Thursday in Maiduguri, added that the much-talked-about resettlement project of the Zulum administration was not what is being portrayed, alleging that most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have been evacuated out of Maiduguri, are still in camps at the various local government headquarters instead of their ancestral homes.
He said during his recent visit to Monguno local government area in the northern part of Borno State, he met the IDPs, who had been resettled out of Maiduguri at the IDPs camps in the local government headquarters.
He also accused the State government of using direct labour to build roads that get dilapidated in months just for the enrichment of Zulum’s cronies and family members.
Jajari said, “The All Progressives Congress (APC) government in Borno State is building schools without teachers, building schools amid retrenchment of teachers. Some of us grew up in Maiduguri, in some of our schools we sat under the trees, but then we had teachers.
“You build roads that become dilapidated after some months because you are just trying to make money. This is not what our people need. People don’t get access to quality education, quality healthcare. Three of our borders are closed and thus impoverishing the business community and crippling the State economy,” the PDP candidate said.
He added that the PDP was ripe to take over power not only in the State but at the federal level, stressing that the unpopular policies of the APC in Borno will make the electorate massively vote for the PDP despite incumbency factor of the ruling party.
“In Borno, people are yearning for change because of discontent with the current APC government. All what the people see are social media razzmatazz, nothing is happening on ground. And if you are not doing something and then, you are keeping quiet, people will be watching, but when you are projecting yourself to be some sort of messiah, and then there is nothing on ground, that will get into people’s head, and with that APC is losing momentum in the state.
“The PDP in Borno is coming to rectify unpopular policies of the APC government such as retrenchment, worsening condition of civil servants, execution of substandard projects and awarding of direct labour to cronies and families, ensure security of lives and properties of the citizens among others,” Jajari stated.