NAN – Two female hostels in the Yauri Government Girls Science Secondary School were on Monday destroyed by fire, Alhaji Garba Kangiwa, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technical Education, said on Wednesday.
Kangiwa made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi.
He said the hostels were destroyed by an early morning inferno when the students were at the assembly ground.
He added that though no life was lost, many personal belongings of the students were destroyed.
The permanent secretary said an alternative accommodation had been provided for the 400 students displaced.
He said the source of the fire was yet to be known, stressing that authorities suspected that it might be from a cooking stove.
The management would henceforth enforce the rule that prohibited students from cooking in the hostel, he added.
Kangiwa commended the Emir of Yauri, Alhaji Zaiyyanu Abdullahi, for donating N500,000 to the affected students, noting that top officials of the ministry had visited the school to ascertain the extent of damage.
He announced that the hostels would be redesigned to ensure that teaching and learning were not disrupted.
