The Katsina State branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has called on the state government to renovate and construct pending school buildings and other structures across the state.

These include; the construction of solar-powered boreholes, toilet facilities, and water systems, the construction and renovation of classrooms, and administrative blocks, and the construction of school parameter fencing to enhance security.

This is to complement the effort of the ongoing Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project aimed at not only improving the status of education but also, enhancing teaching and learning in the state.

According to the state NSE Branch Chairman Almustapha Sada, there are still other buildings that need to be renovated and furnished across the 34 LGAs of the state.

Sada was speaking shortly on Sunday after he inspected the ongoing AGILE Mega Grant construction and renovation projects in four of the benefiting secondary schools across the state.

“The schools we visited include Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS) RADDA, Government Girls’ Technical and Commercial College (GGTCC) CHARANCHI, Government Day Secondary School (GDSSS) KOFAR KAURA and Katsina College Katsina (KCK) KATSINA.

“Seeing is believing. We have gone round and reached our destination at the KCK, Katsina. What we have seen is commendable. The contractors and the School Basic Management Committee (SBMC) chairing the projects have done well.

“At this point, I call on the government to intervene and complement the effort of the AGILE. There are still other buildings that need to be renovated and furnished,” he added.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the AGILE/NSE Joint Venture Lawal Salisu explained that the tour was conducted based on the AGILE/NSE need for their mega Grant projects to be supervised.

“Their primary responsibility is to ensure a close monitoring of the activities at the various sites. Deliberately, we deployed technical staff; the Clark of work and Head of technical which meant to be daily on the ground to supervise the daily activities but more like high profile visit which is going to be a periodic one.

“Today is the first time we deliberately went out to inspect and supervise some selected sites in Katsina Zone. We virtually went around all the affected buildings and made commendations and observations where necessary and we proper some solutions in addition to a report that will follow. The assessment is excellent and quite commendable in compliance,” he noted.

Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman of COREN, Katsina State Technical Committee, Ibrahim Abubakar explained that COREN is mostly concerned with the quality of the work and the staff deployed in the site.

“We expect that any staff deployed here on the site must be registered with the COREN. We are happy that, in all the sites we visited, all the engineering personnel and technologists are registered with the COREN.

“We are also happy with the quality of work being done. Suggestions have been made to the AGILE team on some of the aspects we expect them to improve upon,” he stated.