Akibu Ahmad Ringim
5 September 2008
opinion
It is central to the policy of any government to aim to promote education at all levels. The aim must also be genuine, not just giving lip service to it.
That is the focus of this piece: to assess the performance of Jigawa State Governor Alhaji Sule Lamido, at least in the education sector over the past 15 months that he has been at the helm of affairs in the state.
It is clear that as human beings, we can't just do anything by ourselves. Some situations warrant delegation of duties. This informs the action of selecting members of the executive council by the governors themselves. Those who make up this council are usually technocrats, professionals, and other people with special skills and expertise in certain areas. These people are usually eager to be called upon to give their quota in developing the nation. Whether this is the practice in our societies today is something I cannot say here. But at least I know that Lamido has signaled a genuine intention by the kind of people he appointed into the Jigawa state executive council.
To promote education in the state, Lamido appointed Prof Ruqayyatu Ahmad Rufa'I (OON) as Commissioner of Education. Ruqayyatu was a commissioner before now and a professor of education at the Bayero University, Kano. No one could therefore doubt her suitability to head that ministry, just as no one can doubt Ruqayyatu's credentials as a change agent.
The team Lamido formed with Ruqayyatu is to say the least strong and workable. The solution proffered to the ailing sector cut across improving teachers' condition of service, rehabilitation of schools, provision of laboratory equipments, increasing girl child enrollment, among others.
In the past administration, Jigawa state Ministry of Education had eight departments and nine parastatals, but as soon as Lamido assumed office, he felt this arrangement was grossly inadequate. He approved the creation of more parastatals like the Agency for Mass Education, the state Library Board, the Agency for Nomadic Education among others.
Other key policy decisions his administration took include free education for girls at all levels. This is one of the pressing issues of the millennium development goals, which the western developed countries yearn to see all the developing countries achieve. Needless to say that this has led to increase in the enrollment figures of girls in the state. Within one year of its implementation, this policy has also saw the reduction in the number of girls hawking in the streets of towns and villages in the state.
Jigawa state has 13 female boarding secondary schools. Each school received a brand new 32-seater bus to ease movement of students to and from school as well as other academic activities. The arrangement before this was that the schools hire commercial transport to attend school debates, transport students to hospitals, and other places.
Apart from students welfare the governor also increased the feeding rates of boarding students from 30 to 60 per student. This no doubt enhances the physical outlook of those boarding students.
The present administration has also paid the 2008 WAEC/NECO registration fees as wall as made payment of outstanding moneys for the 2004 NECO/SSCE registration fees. This gesture was extended to students in the tertiary institutions as the government paid tuition fees for all diploma and advanced diploma students at the state-owned nationally acknowledged IT institution, the Informatics, at Kazaure. For those who prepare to start university education, Lamido had ordered the purchase of JAMB forms for all worthy students. The state ministry of education's order of re-introduction of Mock/SSCE examination is seen by many as harnessing the potentials of final students ahead of their WAEC/SSCE examinations.
One other area of promoting education in Jigawa state is in the construction and rehabilitation of structures. A dozen or so months back, classrooms, laboratories, hostels and toilets in most primary and secondary schools in the state were in a complete state of disrepair. Some boarding students often sleep on bare floor as there were no enough beds, and again, some of these students not only bathe outside but also answer nature's call in open spaces. This got so bad, as the environment often turned smelly. The classrooms were also overcrowded and hardly contain the growing number of students.
To tackle these problems, the government embarked on rigorous renovation exercises of the classrooms, hostels, toilets and laboratories. It also approved the construction of new ones. Apart from health and water supply, schools were also provided with first aid materials for emergency cases. Solar-powered boreholes with over-head tanks were provided in 25 boarding schools in the state, and 72 day secondary schools were provided with motorised borehole with overhead-tanks in order to give them access to portable drinking water.
The government then re-established nine zonal education officers each equipped with working materials like cars, personal computers, office furniture and take off grant. To curb the dearth of teaching staff in the both the secondary and tertiary institutions in the state, 120 lecturers were recruited at the College of Education, Gumel. Seven hundred and eighty-eight secondary teachers also were recruited, and recruitment for primary school teachers is on-going. The government had also released enough money for the National Teacher's Institute (NTI) for the training of 6377 primary and secondary schools teachers and inspectors. The newly introduced teaching Inducement Allowance (TIA) which equals 100 per cent of teachers' basic salary is still being enjoyed in the state.
As corporate citizens, financial institutions operating in Jigawa are now willing participants in the state's educational development. Some of these banks have already undertaken a number of projects in some schools. Intercontinental Bank for instance, has renovated SAIS Hadejia; the Unity Bank chose to renovate classrooms, and administrative blocks of GSCS Dutse.
Other banks engaged in this community service include Skye Bank, which renovated and furnished GC Birnin Kudu; Zenith Bank carried out theirs at GGSS Garki; and Bank PHB Supplied complete Physics and Biology laboratory equipments.
Moreover, as a result of these changes some secondary schools in the state participate in National Mathematics quiz competition, like GUSS Ringim win Gold Medals, GDSS Gumel win Silver, SAIS Hadejia win Bronze, and Lamido received award from the University of Ife for his tireless effort in moving the education forward in the state.
What more can prove genuine intention of a leader than this? Whether these efforts would yield the desired result in the state is something only time could tell. But what most people could attest to is the genuineness of these efforts.
Ringim is with the Bayero University, Kano.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
