Kadna Community Gets New Classrooms

Kadna is a community in Bosso Local Government Area, Niger State. The indigenes of the community 
primarily engage in farming, animal husbandry and hunting. Endowed with a young, vibrant workforce and vast land mass, it is unfortunate to observe the failure of the government to provide infrastructure in the community, resulting in substandard living. 
 
The core purpose of Tracka’s visit to Kadna was to inspect the construction and furnishing of one block of three classrooms for N9 million-- a line item in the 2016 federal budget.  The visiting team observed that the indigenes were unaware of the budgetary provision. However, we were informed by the people that their representative, Honourable Salihu Adamu, had approached the community and requested for a plot of land to execute the construction of a junior secondary school. The land was provided as requested. We noted that the residents were unaware of the federal government provision on the Zonal Intervention Project for the community in the 2016 budget.

The existing schools in the Kadna community are run by the community itself and are not provided as part of a dedicated state or federal initiative. There were no classrooms for Junior Secondary School students in Kadna, as such, they had to learn in classrooms within the community primary school. In many cases, pupils sit on the floor to learn. Employed teachers are secondary school graduates, not graduates of training colleges or other higher education institutions. While some teachers are National Diploma holders, this is a rare occurrence, as they often happen to be indigenes who had the opportunity to school outside Kadna and are back to serve their hometown. Meager fees are paid to these teachers termly, that is every three months, from Parent Teacher Association (PTA) collections. It is disheartening to see the educational aspirations of Kadna people short-changed by those who promised to serve them. 
 
During the sensitisation programme, residents were informed of the budgetary provision for the construction of one block of three classrooms for Kadna. The residents greatly appreciated the sensitisation engagement and resolved to periodically engage with their elected representatives in the delivery of public service. 

Despite the budgetary allocation, only one block of two classrooms was constructed. Speaking with Honourable Adamu on phone, we were made to understand that the budgeted sum of N9 million was insufficient for the construction of the one block of three classrooms. He explained that an additional N3 million was required to complete the construction, but he failed to provide details of how he reached this conclusion. 
                  

The Tracka team further demanded the construction of more blocks of classrooms from the Niger state government through social media and Tracka Plus, a television production with Channels TV. In January 2018, we received a call from Kadna community that the Niger State Universal Basic Education Board sent a contractor to the community to request land to construct and furnish a block of three classrooms. The project has been completed; furniture has been supplied and students learn there in a conducive environment.