The University of Maiduguri in Borno state, north east Nigeria has been under consistent attack by Boko Haram’s suicide bombers lately.
These attacks may soon end as the Federal Government has sent a delegation to the institution to do an on the spot assessment of the damage done by those attacks.
The institution has been attacked a record 7 times by Boko Haram suicide bombers since the beginning of 2017.
The visitors’ first port of call was the Vice Chancellor’s conference room where they interacted with the university community on how best the FG can come to the aid of the university.
The next day was for the team to tour affected areas within the university which had not been in the public glare until now.
What they saw sent shock waves down their spines. They saw the university’s male hostel which came under attack recently but fortunately no student was around on the night the terrorists came calling.
The next port of call was the university’s security office. The obituary poster of Betty Oghene still remains on the wall there. She was killed in one of Boko Haram’s recent attacks on the campus of the university.
The visiting team was shown round the perimeter fence of the university. They saw for themselves the need for the university to have a wall built around it to curtail attacks by suicide bombers.
Dr. Umar Tambuwal who represented the Minister of Education on the visit, described the attacks as evil, adding that something must be done urgently to protect lives and property of staff and students of the school.
The university management has already begun erection of the East end perimeter fencing. They will need a lot of money to complete the more than 20 km wall around the institution.
The tour ended in the office of the Vice Chancellor who presented a plaque to the guests who vowed to present their report promptly to the minister of education that sent them here.