By Johnstone Kpilaakaa
SHENDAM—For 10-year-old Nankpak Clifford*, a primary five pupil at LEA Central Primary School in Shendam, Plateau state, education holds the key to the future. His father, a peasant farmer, has always told him about the opportunities that come with formal education.
So, each day the young Clifford sets out for school, the thoughts of a brighter future keep him going; he wants to become an engineer.
But his once lively spirit dwindles every morning as he gets closer to the 76-year-old primary school. The classroom where he and over 50 other pupils learn daily—from Monday to Friday—is without furniture. They learn sitting on the bare floor.
The learning conditions at the school cast a bleak shadow on the future of the youngsters. “If you don’t go into the class early, you will either stand or sit on the floor; that is if your friend didn’t keep space for you,” he said with a wry smile on his face.
With a falling roof and broken desks, Clifford and a few of his mates sit on the remnants of some furniture, others sit on the floor while a group stands by the wall, facing or turning away from the blackboard. The pupils are struggling to learn, but they have no option at the moment.
There are 10 classrooms currently in use at the school, but three out of the 10 have collapsed roofs filled with a heap of broken desks as of November 2023.
Founded in 1947, LEA Central Primary School is one of the over seven primary schools operating under the Shendam Local Education Authority. Presently, the school serves a student population of about 700, facilitated by a team of 18 teachers, including the headteacher.
Authorities at the school are not unaware of the precarious learning situation that the pupils are facing. Sabina Yenlong, the head teacher who has been in the school since 2017, says the facilities there have been dilapidated for some time now.
“We are facing an infrastructural challenge in the school. If you look around, you’ll notice that some classes are no longer in use, mainly due to damaged roofs or crumbling walls. This has been an ongoing issue for quite some time,” Yenlong told this reporter.
“It is one of the largest schools in the community. Due to the poor infrastructural state, some parents have had to move their children to other schools—so the situation has also impacted enrolment.”
As the pupils hope to learn new things every passing day, they are crammed into the remaining seven classrooms—threatening their chances of properly assimilating lessons.
Against their wish, primary six, five, and four pupils are accommodated in one classroom—each of these rooms holds around 70-80 students—except the nursery section.
“That is a lot of people. It makes the learning experience quite challenging. If a child is not comfortable standing or sitting in a tight condition, they end up sitting on the floor, especially during exams period,” said Matthew Dagap, one of the class teachers.
We are not aware of a ₦9 million school furniture contract — Headteacher
In January 2022, the Universal Basic Education Commission or UBEC, the government’s intervention agency for basic education, made a move that should have changed the experience for Clifford and the rest of the students in the school.
The commission paid over ₦9 million (₦9,075,825.00) to Nisha Technologies LTD, for “the provision of school furniture at LEA Central Primary School, Shendam, Plateau state”, according to BudgIT’s GovSpend Portal, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses federal government spending in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Nisha Technologies LTD got the contract just nine months after its registration as a company. According to its registration details on the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission, the company was registered on March 19, 2021, with registration number 1772740.
But over two years after the money was disbursed, neither the contractor nor the furniture arrived at the school.
“Nine million naira?” the headteacher exclaimed when she was informed about the project. Resting back in her chair, she said: “When you mentioned this amount of money, I was shocked. We have not heard of any contract, and no one has come here regarding such a project; you are the first person we are hearing it from.”
The classrooms are littered with wooden and plastic furniture—both in use and broken—and were either funded by the federal government’s intervention via UBEC with the inscription Plateau State Universal Basic Education Board in 2014/2015 or by the Education Trust Fund 2008, 2009 and 2010 merged intervention.
“The last furniture we received here was in 2015,” the head teacher said, citing available official records. “Even if half of this money was utilised, we would have gone a long way. It wouldn’t have been limited to just providing furniture; we could have addressed additional issues like repairing the roof and fixing the walls.”
She said the school has been sustained by the contribution of the Parents Teachers’ Association or PTA. 
Due to the prevalence of vandalism of the school’s furniture, the PTA, in collaboration with the management, built a perimeter fence to prevent intruders.
“This effort was financed from the ₦400 PTA levy that each student is required to pay every term,” according to George Mensuk, the secretary of the association. The PTA also employed a security guard to protect the facility.
₦9m can provide 208 desks and more for LEA Shendam
This reporter consulted some carpenters in Jos, Plateau state’s capital and inquired about the cost of producing a three-seater desk, using pictures from the Shendam school as a reference. The carpenter quoted ₦13,000 for one desk.
Based on this estimate and considering the school’s population, the cost of providing 208 desks —that is, 16 three-seater desks for each of the 13 classrooms at the LEA primary school was calculated.
The total amounted to ₦2.7 million (₦2,704,000), significantly less than half of the disbursed amount. However, the calculation does not include additional costs, such as transporting the furniture to the school and payments for workmanship.
“When the government is granting contracts like these, they can collaborate with the school management,” says the PTA secretary. “This would help us to monitor and ensure both accountability and successful project delivery.”
Given the rural nature of the community, he believes that some contractors might opt to neglect their responsibilities, counting on the limited oversight of the awarding agency.
‘I don’t know the school project’ — contractor
Despite several open-source searches, the digital footprint of Nisha Technologies, the company that was awarded the contract, is minimal. The firm does not have a website or social media presence. A search on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registry indicates that the ICT company was registered on March 19, 2021, and its status shows that it is currently active.
Nisha Technologies is a familiar name in Nigeria’s open contracting sector.
According to the GovSpend portal, the company obtained disbursements for at least 13 projects, totalling over ₦271 million, from UBEC and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency or NPHCDA between January 2022 and September 2023.
The pattern of the award of the ₦9 million project for the supply of school furniture echoes the prevalent trend in Nigerian procurement, where funds are allocated to companies without specific expertise in the designated area.
Despite being an ICT company, Nisha Technologies has been contracted for diverse projects, including providing school furniture, building and renovating classrooms, and constructing school toilets.
When contacted by this reporter, Gabriel Omolusi, a director at the company listed on CAC’s registry, claimed ignorance of the award of the furniture supply contract at LEA Central Primary School, Shendam.
“I don’t know anything about the project or the company. Go and do your research,” Omolusi told this reporter.
After he was provided with evidence of his role in the company, he did not respond to follow-up calls or WhatsApp messages. “Don’t be disturbing my number,” he aggressively said to a fixer who called him on behalf of the reporter via a different phone number.
An email sent to the organisation’s official email address, with all its directors, including Mr Omolusi, copied, also went unanswered.
After an unanswered Freedom of Information (FOI) request was submitted to UBEC, attempts were made to reach David Apeh, UBEC’s Head of Public Relations. However, he did not respond to calls or text messages.
Did the furniture go elsewhere?
It is not clear if the supply was made to another school. However, an official at the Shendam Local Education Authority, who declined to reveal her identity because she is not authorised to speak to the press, stated, “We have not been notified of any recent projects.”
At the other LEA Primary School near the 332 Artillery Regiment Army Barracks in Shendam, where Yenlong served as the headteacher before her last posting, the intervention of the PTA and the school’s management proved effective.
She said the school also faced a similar challenge of a shortage of furniture until the administration partnered with the PTA to address the issue.
“Previously, the students were sitting on the floor during classes,” recounted Yenlong, a former headteacher at the school, displaying before-and-after images on her phone. “Now, thanks to that effort, they have desks.”
Although she aims to replicate this initiative in her current school, financial constraints have hindered her efforts.
“The PTA is already making significant contributions here [referring to LEA Central Primary School, Shendam], and we can’t do that now,” she added. “We hope that this project will be executed; it will make learning more conducive for our students.”
This story is published under the GovSpend Media Fellowship, supported by BudgIT, ICIR and MacArthur Foundation
For 10-year-old Nankpak Clifford, education is seen as the key to his future despite the dire learning conditions at LEA Central Primary School in Shendam, Plateau state. Living with a collapsing roof, broken or absent furniture, and overcrowded classrooms, Clifford and his peers struggle to study in a challenging environment. The school, founded in 1947 and with about 700 students facilitated by 18 teachers, is straining under its dilapidated state.
Despite a ₦9 million grant from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for new school furniture paid to Nisha Technologies LTD in January 2022, the school has not received any new furnishings. This company, registered only nine months before receiving the contract, has not fulfilled its obligation, leaving the school without much-needed support. Instead, the Parents Teachers' Association (PTA) has taken steps to improve security and infrastructure using their funds.
The lack of new furniture and infrastructure repairs has severely impeded the students' learning environment. The school management remains unaware of the large sum intended for their support, reflecting broader systemic issues in Nigeria's procurement processes where funds often do not reach their intended projects. Efforts by the PTA and some teachers aim to bridge the gap, but substantial improvement remains elusive without the anticipated government support.
