Rain sinks NOBISCO dormitory, no accommodation for boys

Tamale Sept. 24, GNA - Excessive rain in the Tamale Metropolitan Area this year has caused extensive damage to the boys dormitory of the Northern School of Business (NOBISCO) in Tamale and deprived the students of accommodation facility.

The entire house accommodating the boys is at the moment sinking while water has filled all the dormitories compelling authorities of the school to convert the dining hall as a temporary accommodation for the students.

Mr Albert Atutiga, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the school told the GNA in Tamale on Tuesday after the boards emergency meeting that the school at the moment has no dining hall and a decent accommodation for the boys.

He said the conversion of the dining hall into a temporary accommodation for the students was going to impact negatively on the performance of the school in this academic year and called for urgent action to address the situation.

He said the block, which was built in 1974, had never been renovated adding, "NOBISCO is just a neglected school in the Metropolis" and called on the government to come to its aid.

Mr Atutiga said at the board's crisis meeting to see how best they could do to salvage the dormitory, it became clear that the dining hall and some abandoned sheds needed comprehensive renovation as temporary measures.

He said at the moment the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly had promised to support the school with five million cedis for the rehabilitation of the dining hall as the temporary dormitory for the students, which he described as woefully inadequate.

He said the only quick measure is to task the PTA to pool their resources to assist the school, while waiting for support of the government and other benevolent supporters. Mr Atutiga said due to the sinking of the dormitory some parents were agitating for the postponement of the reopening date for continuing students, while others suggested the admission of only girls as boarders to safe the situation.

When the GNA visited the campus on Wednesday, students were busily parking their things to the dining hall while others were still using some of the rooms in the sinking house, since they all of them could not accommodated in the dining hall.

There was a pool of water inside the dormitories and there were also huge crakes on the walls, the veranda is also sinking, making it a dangerous place to live. Mr Mohammed Alidu, the Senior House Master (SHM) of the school, who conducted the GNA round described the entire block as a "Death Trap" unsafe for human habitation and called on the government to come to the aid of the school.

He said the situation would compel school authorities to resort to low enrolment of male boarders this year.