The federal government of Nigeria has concluded plans to temporarily relocate the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka Kaduna State to another location.
This comes after gunmen recently kidnapped 37 students of the institution before they were later released.
The decision to relocate the school to a safer location was made public during a press conference on Monday in the school premises by the Provost of the College, Dr. Usman M.B.
He added that the government has also instructed that the school fees for the affected students should be waived.
According to the Prevost, “the Hon. Minister of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar has concluded plans to temporarily relocate the College to a safer place; put in place adequate security as well as vehicles to serve as shuttle to convey staff and students alike from the temporary site to designated bus stops within the Kaduna metropolis. All these would be communicated to all as soon as the arrangement has been perfected.
“Similarly, the Hon. Minister has directed that the school fees of the affected students be waived for the programmes they are currently running. Therefore, for those of them presently on ND programme, the HND fees would be waived accordingly,” he said.
The Provost also appreciated all stekeholders that worked in achieving the safe return of the abducted students.
He said: “It is important to state at this juncture that the frantic efforts of all the stakeholders including the Hon. Minister and the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment, the Board Chairman, DG-FRIN and the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Command, Alh. Umar Musa Muri led to the rescue of the first ten set of the abducted students.”
Naija News recalls 37 students of the the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State were abducted by bandits on 11th March, 2021.
10 of them were released in two batches – on 5th and 12th April, 2021 respectively, while the remaining 27 students were released on 5th May, after spending 55 days in captivity.
The article was originally published on Nigeria News