Minister Decries Infrastructure Decay In Suleja Academy, Shifts Resumption Date

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman has decried the state of infrastructural decay in the Federal Government Academy, in Suleja Niger State.

Mamman who led officials of the ministry on a tour of the school in Suleja on Thursday, therefore shifted the school resumption date by ten days to enable the completion of undergoing renovations in the school.

The school, which is expected to resume for the 2024/25 academic session on Sunday, September 8, will now resume on September 18.

The Minister visited the school with the Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu.

He stated that the tour was necessary to ascertain the level of progress in the renovation of some of the school facilities.

The facilities include the students’ hostels, toilet facilities, school clinic, laboratories, and the skills and renovation centre.

Tahir who noted that the school was the only one set aside for Gifted Children in the country, emphasized the importance of creating a conducive environment for students.

“This is the only school of its type in the country, which is the National School for the gifted, where we are supposed to assemble students who demonstrate special aptitude and capacity.

“For us, we need to showcase the school, and to do that, we need to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is there and the academic environment is suitable for that purpose.

“This school started with old facilities, and maintenance is a problem. What we have seen doesn’t answer our expectations of the school that it should be.

“They have achieved some mileage, and that is not the destination we should be looking at, so we are here to inspect the school,” he said.

The minister who pledged the support of the ministry in providing massive support for the school, commended the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and the old students for their active community engagement in mobilizing others to improve some of the facilities seen in the school.

The Federal Government Academy, in Suleja was established by the former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida in 1990 and is fully funded by the federal government for gifted students.