The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello, on Friday said that he had no update yet on the abducted students and workers of Government Science College, Kagara, who were kidnapped from their school on Wednesday.
The governor, however, said he was hoping to get an update on the abductees in hours or days and would make such known to the public when he gets any.
He spoke to newsmen at the Niger State government house, assuring that his government were employing both kinetic and non-kinetic measures to see that the students were freed at all cost.
He said, “We want to bring them back home at all cost. We are using both kinetic and non-kinetic methods to bring them home safely.”
When asked to respond on the dilapidated state of the GSC Kagara, the governor said that that was one of the burdens the state had been suffering from.
Blaming the past administration for the situation, he said that Niger State had a total of 60 secondary schools and all of them had remained in sorry states except for nine of them, which he said were renovated under his administration.
“We have 60 schools and only nine is in put in place and my administration did it. Some of these schools built over 40 years ago are not painted, not fenced. When I come in I started renovating schools. At the moment we have rebuilt nine.”
The governor said why he would not promise to renovate all the school, he would try to renovate as many as he could, adding that a state like Niger where about 80 per cent are used to pay salary, that there is little he could do.
He also said that his hands are tied because he is not in control of the security operatives.
“I don’t have control over security. They are not under me. If I have a non-performing commissioner of police, I have no say.”
The governor, meanwhile, noted that the Islamic Cleric, Sheik Ahmed Gumi was making efforts to help the state as he did in other states that suffered bandit’s attack.
He said the Islamic cleric was going to send a comprehensive memo on his findings and what he thinks “we should do” on the matter.