Herdsmen destroyed 50 public primary schools in Benue — SUBEB Executive Chairman

The Executive Chairman of Benue State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Dr. Philip Tachin has disclosed that over 50 public primary schools were destroyed this year by armed herdsmen who sacked several Benue communities.

He said the attacks also forced over 20,000 pupils out of school, while of the number, more than 16,000 were taking refuge in Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps in the state.

Dr. Tachin who spoke in Makurdi said the development was a huge burden on the state government stressing that the state government urgently needed the assistance of the federal government to overcome the challenge.

He said, “the development has obviously distorted the education of the affected children and it is indeed a sad development for our primary educational system.

“That is the price our children are paying for the herdsmen attacks which have left over 50 public primary schools in ruins and our children displaced.

“We will no doubt require the intervention of the federal government to rebuild the destroyed structures if our children must go back early to school in a convenient learning environment.

“And as it stands today, the scope of work required to get the destroyed schools running again is beyond the state government, hence we appeal to the federal government to urgently intervene to save our primary school system.”

He lamented that if help did not come from the federal government to augment and assist the state government, the affected Benue children faced the prospect of falling far behind their mates.