No Embers In May: A story of Yobe’s education renaissance under His Excellency Honourable Mai Mala Buni, by Suleiman Hassan Gimba Esq

No Embers In May: A story of Yobe’s education renaissance under His Excellency Honourable Mai Mala Buni, by Suleiman Hassan Gimba Esq

Dear Yobe, let us talk about our education. Let us talk about the kids who will pick up the mantle when we have long returned to our Creator. Let us talk about the state of emergency that now pays dividends. And let us talk about the kids whose brilliance was reinforced by His Excellency’s Declaration about five years ago, on the day our hope was renewed to fade no more.

Some of the kids – Yobe kids – rank in the 99th percentile in the just-released JAMB results. They have now been catapulted to the pinnacle of education royalty, their performances ensured; the foundation they received enabled it. The higher you go, the cooler it becomes they say but even the barometer for success has never measured that Yobe can have it this cool.

Amid this insurgency, it shows even the most terrorised people can thrive with the right leadership. By balancing post-insurgency rebuilding and the dire need for progress, he has once again proved he is what Yobe needs at this crucial part of its development.

That’s why for him, Boko Haram has never been an excuse to abscond from his responsibilities and why should it be? When all he has shown from the first day is that purposeful leadership can and will help us find that which is west of Westeros.

It’s like the proof that Tony Stark has a heart but while the Ironman wears it on his chest hoping for a xorrian elixir to help him have a normal heart, the proof that MMB has a heart lies in the work that he does; it is hoisted by the children of the common man going toe to toe with the children of the elite in National examinations and surpassing them with verified scores of 346, 339, 338, 335, 330, 329, 328, 324 and many impressive scores in this year’s JAMB; it oozes in the conduct of the common child studying in world-class universities around the world with their parent needing not a kobo to sponsor them; it is seen in me, it is seen in you, it is seen in everyone who has been in Yobe for the past five years.

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Critics however will love to point to the fact that the Nigerian Tulip International College – NTIC is a private school without taking into account the unique history of the institution in Yobe State. Perversely, it is the part I love. It tests our beliefs in his principles, more than the bragging rights these JAMB results have given us. It shows he has answers to questions raised by the critics. It shows he responds to adversaries by staying stubbornly true to his principles, they were made with the best intentions and the result speaks for itself in unbiased news reporting in national dailies.

And for those who still don’t believe, NTIC was built by Governor Mamman B Ali in 2008 and since then has been funded by the State Government. The most brilliant students across the 17 local governments are picked through a fair and transparent process each year. This was continued by Ibrahim Geidam.

In the spirit of continuity and consolidation, and because it aligned with his principles on education, His Excellency Mai Mala Buni did not only continue with the program, he expanded it. He declared a state of emergency on education on his first day at the helm. After setting up a committee to review the entire basic and secondary education structure in the state, he set out to implement all of its recommendations.

The state of emergency on education is restoring our curious primal nature, evident all those 8,000 years ago when our ancestors were building canoes and sailing the seas. We are witnessing the meridian of Nigeria’s new centre of learning.

This is why I believe the ongoing plans to expand the NTIC blueprint are more than revolutionary, it is a renaissance like the European revival of classical learning and wisdom all those centuries ago. The plan is to do it through the proliferation of model and mega schools, he has established 7 each and are already equipped with 315 teachers, modern learning equipment and playgrounds.

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the second phase of the education renaissance in Yobe State. The success will be so loud, that it will be like listening to Rarara’s Fati Fatima Mai Zogale, on Dolby Atmos, with a pair of BeatsbyDre headset. We are arriving at the promised land faster than you can say MMB.

Whatever fears there have been in the education sector have been extinguished; to move from coming bottom or second bottom to being among the top hitters in the country in just five years shows the declaration was strategic, its execution topnotch and its result mesmerising.

MMB is serving a cocktail of good governance, youth empowerment and economic revolution, quality education, and strong human relations. This is indeed the people’s government. The people are his past, they are his present and they are definitely part of his future. Such is his impact that he is etched in their hearts, like the navel is to the body.

From the ashes of the insurgency his state is reemerging like a phoenix or an ember in the ashes but instead of fading, the ember is gradually growing back into the fire it once was… Like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

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