Nigerian governor purchases 100 computers for Secondary Schools at N1m each

Ilesanmi AdekanbiFebruary 19, 2020

0 2 minutes read

The Gombe State Government has reportedly purchased 100 HP desktop computers for Secondary Schools in the state, at the cost of one million Naira each.

According to the TrackaNG, who revealed the controversial desktop computers purchased for Filiya and Kaltungo under Shongom Federal Constituency in Gombe State.

In the 2019 Zonal Intervention Funds projects, the former representative of the constituency, Binta Bello, nominated the project and was slated to be executed from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

The office of the SGF was allocated N16.39bn in 2019 to execute various projects. One of which is to equip the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board centre in Filiya with 100 desktop computers.

TrackaNG, who is the project monitoring arm of BudgIT, a civic organisation that applies technology to intersect citizen engagement with institutional improvement to facilitate societal change, tweeted about the project, which has led to some uproar on the social media platform.

TrackaNG, which also collaborates with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, posted photographs of the computer on its official Twitter handle.

“N100m was allocated in the 2019 budget for the supply of 100 computers in Filya, Gombe State. We tracked, and report that the computers have been delivered. #GetInvolved.”

N100m was allocated in the 2019 budget for the supply of 100 computers in Filya, Gombe state. We tracked, and report the computers has been delivered. #GetInvolved pic.twitter.com/hZZJnRjJNg
— TrackaNG (@TrackaNG) February 17, 2020

The revelation, however, received mostly negative comments from social media as many Nigerians wondered why a state would spend N1m to procure each computer.

@computerguysng tweeted, “I sell computers. These computers looked like coupled PCs. The carton looks fake and why are there no serial and product number stickers on them? FYI Coupled PCs are 100k max! Someone just made a profit of N90m!”

One Akinola Aloba, a Twitter user, who claimed to deal in computers, said “not only are the computers substandard, they could not have cost more than N100,000”.

Another user, who claimed to know the community, said there was no electric power to operate the expensive computers.

“OMG! I know Filiya in Gombe State. They deserve better, there is no electricity to power computers, no potable water and somebody is buying them one desktop computer for N1m,” @Kuyembo tweeted.

@Abdallahmisilli stated, “This is what Rochas Okorocha termed as the biggest corruption in Nigeria, he called it ‘pauperisation of economy’. These desktop computers will not cost N200,000 at most but N100m has been budgeted – which means each computer was bought at N1m. With N100m, you can buy 500pcs not 100.”

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