Governor of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi said his administration tilted its development proritise towards building educational prospects of the citizen instead of white elephant projects.
The governor said the backwardness in education with the majority of students in the state at the basic level unable to read and write, is giving him a sleepless night which guided his administration to invest in education to address future challenges.
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“The administration didn’t focus on giant projects like building flyovers and other white elephant projects, all those can not be useful without an educated society, we made deliberate efforts to ensure that we rebound the education sector and we started from all segments of the sector”, Mr Namadi said.
He stated this during a courtesy visit by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) of Hussaini Adamu Polytechnic Kazaure, who presented him with the award of “Most Outstanding Education-Friendly Governor of the Decade”, on Wednesday.
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Jigawa, like many northern states, faces educational challenges, including a high number of out-of-school children, learning poverty, inadequate infrastructure, and a shortage of qualified teachers.
At the event, Mr Namadi acknowledged that the majority of students at the basic level in the state are illiterate due to long time neglect in the education sector but his administration is addressing the challenges with multi-billion naira investment and a partnership with NewGlobe, an educational firm.
“After an analysis of the sector on the situation on the ground, we realised that there is the need to declare a state of emergency. That led us to enter into contract with NewGloe. We discussed the issue at the executive council meeting. We did a rundown analysis both in Jigawa and in Rwanda; we found that in every 10 students at the basic level eight of them are illiterate.
“At the end, we don’t have any option than to take a deliberate effect to revamp the education sector, we went into contract with NewGlobe that cost us about N67 billion in the next five years, and the contract is being implemented in phases, the outcome of the contract is worth celebrating”, Mr Namadi said.
At the tertiary level, Mr Namadi said for “the first time in the history of Jigawa State, we have taken an overhaul of the tertiary institutions, we took a radical approach by bringing in people who know the system, the entire management of all our tertiary institutions, the governing councils which hitherto use to be operate by politicians is being managed purely by academicians.
“The investment in the education sector is now paying, we are focused, and the result is glaring. Several programmes were initiated at various MDAs and the education sector to monitor the progress.
“It’s difficult, but the result is encouraging. At the secondary school level, we have good compliments from staff that are required, and we are working hard to achieve the same at basic level.
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