Pupils donate N300, 000 to displaced children in North-East

Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday announced that pupils of a primary school in Abuja had donated N300, 000 for upkeep of children displaced by insurgency in the North-East. Dogara made the disclosure during plenary, and said that three cheques of N100, 000 each were handed to him by the pupils from Straight Gate Primary School in his office, for displaced children in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. He said that the children directed that the cheques should be given to governors of the states for the provision of needs of children affected by the insurgency in their respective states. According to him, the pupils from the school have done something that no other visitor ever did in any assembly before and the world and Nigerians need to know this. "The pupils of this school have done what is unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives,’’ he said. The speaker said that the donation was the pupils’ contribution towards the welfare of children affected by the terrorism in the states mentioned, adding that "they did well by doing so". Members of the house acknowledged the pupils' gesture with standing ovation. The House had passed a resolution urging governments of the North-East states to reopen schools forced to close down by Boko Haram activities. - NAN