By HUSSAINI MOHAMMED BABA, Potiskum
Two students from Yobe State – one in a university, another in a secondary school – have emerged best graduating students in their respective institutions.
Their enviable achievements, which are exceptional, are coming at a time when the state almost always comes last in national examinations which necessitated the newly sworn in governor of the state, His Excellency Mai Mala Buni, to declare a State of Emergency in the Primary and Secondary schools sector of the state on the day of his inauguration.
SALEH BABAYO, ABU ZARIA
A 23-year-old indigene of Damaturu, Yobe State, Saleh Babayo emerged as the Best Graduating Student of the Department of Civil Engineering, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.81/5.00 (First Class Honours), during the 41st convocation ceremony of the university held on Saturday 27th April, 2019.
Saleh Babayo was born on the 6th June, 1995 to the family of Alhaji Babayo Ado, a businessman and politician, and Hajiya Amina Yusuf, a primary school teacher. He has five other siblings.
He finished his primary education from Bindigari Primary School, Damaturu, in 2005 and then proceeded to Nayi-nawa Junior Secondary School and finished in 2008. He then got a scholarship during the administration of Governor Mamman Bello Ali for his senior secondary school at the Nigerian Turkish International College (NTIC), Kano, from 2008 to 2011.
He obtained a Certificate in Computer Application from Business and Engineering Skills Training (BEST) Centre with Distinction (3.50/4.00), and proceeded to Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu and obtained a Diploma in Computer Science, also with Distinction (3.64/4.00).
Since the time he was in SS3 in NTIC Kano, back in 2011, he had been very consistent about his future ambition, which was always to study Engineering. He wrote JAMB three consecutive times between 2011 and 2013, with Electrical Engineering as his preferred choice in 2011, and Civil Engineering in the remaining years.
He finally settled for Civil Engineering in 2012, because, according to him, “in Nigeria’s context, Civil Engineering is closer to the populace than any other discipline of Engineering as public infrastructures like highways, bridges, tunnels, monuments, railways, airports, seaports etc. are all progenies of the Civil Engineering profession”.
He is almost always driven by passion. Since nobody advised or influenced him to study Civil Engineering, he was motivated by his inquisitiveness. Hence, the choice of Civil Engineering was absolutely, exclusively his choice.
His future plan now is solely to further his studies up to PhD level, perhaps abroad if given the opportunity. As earlier stated, he was granted 100% scholarship during the administration of Governor Mamman Bello Ali to pursue his senior secondary school education at NTIC Kano. He still believes he has more potential to unlock if given another scholarship.
And finally, his dream is, after the completion of his academic sojourn, to come back to his state of origin (Yobe) and serve his people in any given opportunity as his desire is to give back to the society.
SHU’AIBU ABDULLAHI MAJE
In a similar development, Shu’aibu Abdullahi Maje, an 18 year old boy from Potiskum, Yobe State, has emerged as the 8th overall best student in the recently released JAMB result with a total score of 342. His success could mark a turning point in the performance of Yobe students in the JAMB-UTME, especially with Governor Buni’s declaration of State of Emergency. While the Nigerian Tulip International College’s (the school he attended) naturally perform very well in external examinations, the level of success has never been this colourful.
Born also on the 6th but of October, 2001, Maje is the oldest child in a family, also, of six. His mother is a housewife and the father a civil servant with the NDLEA. Though not rich, they supported their child’s dream and his unique interest in Clean Energy and Global Warming as he coasted through Mai Umar Primary School, Potiskum and the NTIC, mostly finishing in the top two of his class every term. Maje loves Maths and plays football in his spare time. He has applied for Petrochemical Engineering at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.
