Impressed by the quality and standard of work done by the Kaduna State Government and the construction firm, Principals of Rimi College and Government College both in the State capital, have commended the Governor, Mal. Nasir El-rufai and the firm handling the roads, Farmtrac Nigeria Limited .
According to the Principals, this is the first time in over twenty years that total upgrade and renovation works are done in the schools, with considerations for access roads to various parts of the schools .
In separate interviews with some journalists on tour of renovated schools by the State Government within Kaduna metropolis , the Principals of Rimi College ,Mrs Altine Ishaku Dauda and that of Government College,Mr. Bello Mbochi Fih acknowledged the importance of providing standard and conducive learning environment as one of the criteria for quality education .
While praising Governor El-rufai and the Ministry of Education for the standard renovation works in both schools ,they expressed joy over the quality of access roads constructed by Farmtrac Nigeria Limited in Rimi and Government colleges.
Kaduna State government under its education reform programme had awarded contracts for projects in the 512 secondary schools in the state with over 700 of the projects spread around the schools.
Mr Fih, who is the Acting Principal of Government College, Kaduna said the school is not only wearing new look with lots of projects executed, but also upgraded to the best of standards you can get in developed countries .This is a great improvement from the past .
According to him, the phase one of the work has been completed, where classes were renovated including the SS3 block ,the beautiful terrazzo work done on the floor adding ,” In the phase two ,you can see the renovation work going on at the admin block and several parts of the school.”
On the ongoing construction of access road, the Acting Principal said ,” Before now , we didn’t have good roads within the school ,but as you can see, the college is almost regarded as a higher institution now in the area of infrastructure .
” Farmtrac has done a quality work on the roads with standard drainages. He went extra mile out of job specification to support the school to fix the bad transformer .”
On her part, elated Mrs Altine Ishaku Dauda ,the Principal of Rimi College said there is nothing to say more than to thank Governor El-rufai led administration for changing the face of the school completely .
She explained, ” If you go round ,you will see that no school in Kaduna enjoys the kind of massive projects going on in Rimi College.The school used to be porous without fence ,then you see students come in and go out any how through various exit points ,but with the standard fence built, and good security arrangement, it is history.
Speaking on the standard access road constructed , She stated ,”Before now, erosion had almost claimed the road networks within the school. But today, it is a different story with the construction of standard road and drainages within the school premises. In fact, Rimi College can compete favourable with any school in the United States or United Kingdom.
“We are very happy with what Farmtrac Nigeria limited has done in terms of road network .Among the Contractors ,I think is the best .At every point we shared knowledge and he worked according to standard .”
Earlier in a chat with the Commissioner of Education, Mal.Shehu Usman Mohammed
said ,in all the 512 secondary schools in the state ,the state government under its education reform programme is renovating and upgrading educational facilities to the best of standards .
“If you visit the schools, you will find out that the work done are in phases from renovation of classes; renovation of hostels , laboratories , libraries , staff offices to provision of water,construction of new toilets and construction of roads ,we considered quality and standard
” And anywhere you see road, such as in Rimi College and Government College ,Kaduna, we are in the final phase .
We award contracts based on competitive bidding , Farmtrac construction company got the job based on that and from the work done so far ,he has executed the project in line with our specifications.”
“On issue of sourcing of funds for these projects , the Education Commissioner said , ” This one of wonders of this administration” .
Shortly after the tour of the road projects at Rimi College and Government College , the team of journalists interviewed Engineer Markus Saleh , the Project Coordinator of Farmtrac Nigeria Limited, an indigenous company involved in the road construction work at both schools.
According to him,as an indigenous construction company based in Kaduna, integrity and sincerity mean a lot to the company ,it forms one of the core values of operations .
“We don’t compromise standard ,we don’t cut corners and that is why we have been able deliver the type of quality work at Rimi college and Government College ,Kaduna “.
” Anywhere we work , we are conscious of the competitive space with foreign contractors thus we give our clients the best with quality assurance at all times.”
