The Niger State Command of the State Security
Service has smashed a syndicate which specialises in the illegal sale of
Federal Government books donated free of charge to primary school pupils.
The syndicate, which included four members of
staff of the Niger State Basic Education Board, was smashed after operatives of
the SSS rounded off the ring leaders.
Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom
Wike, said in a statement signed by his Special Assistant (Media) said on
Thursday, that he was saddened by the fact that officials of SUBEB were
involved in the act.
The statement quoted the minister as warning
those involved in such acts of sabotage to stop but it appears the warning had
gone unheeded.
Those arrested include, Mohammed Abubakar Kutigi,
a staff of the Niger State House of Assembly and facilitator between traders
and Niger SUBEB officials, Mohammed Ndako, Chief Store Officer, SUBEB, Mohammed
Sani, Principal Store Officer SUBEB and Tanko Abdulahi, principal store
assistant, SUBEB.
sted a syndicate selling free Universal Basic
Education Books in four major markets in the country.
The minister said henceforth independent monitors
would be drafted to monitor the distribution of textbooks to individual schools
across the country.
The statement read in part, “The minister added
that the Federal Ministry of Education and its security partners will work hard
towards ensuring that all saboteurs in the book distribution chain face
justice.
Earlier, while parading the suspects in Minna on
Thursday, Niger State Director of Department of State Services, Dr. Larry
Obiagwu, stated that the command received an alert from her counterparts in
Anambra State that books meant for Niger State were on sale at Onitsha market.
He said investigations led to the arrest of
Kutigi, the mastermind who fingered other suspects.
Obiagwu said, “The command established that the
source of the UBE, Federal Government ‘not for sale textbooks, have markets in
Onitsha, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Kano.”
Suspected middle-man of the illegal book trade,
Mohammed Abubakar Kutigi admitted to journalists that he served as link between
the Niger SUBEB store officers and traders.
He also admitted to have sold 50,000 text books
to the traders at N80 each.
On his part, the Niger State SUBEB Chief Store
Officer, Mohammed Ndako told journalists that the books sold to traders were
the excess supplied by publishers in case of shortfall.
He said he was compelled to participate in
illegal book sale because of his health condition and poor pay package in the
civil service.
A trader from the Onitsha Market, Ikpe Okorie,
said upon buying the books at N80 per copy, they sell at N100 per copy.
The Punch
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