Yobe Education Recovery Appeal Fund – My passionate appeal for support, by Yusuf Ali
It is with a deep sense of responsibility that I write to appeal for support for the Yobe Education Recovery Appeal Fund. This scheme, apart from being a dream come true, is also significant in the sense that, as citizens of Yobe State, we are on the verge of taking the BULL by the horn with our financial support. Yes, we want to take the bull in the form of the hydra-headed monster called Ignorance, Diseases and Poverty. And we have come to realise that the only way to achieve this is through education in all its ramifications.
There is a general consensus that education is the solution to all problems of any society. In other words, sustainable development in its entire ramification is rooted in knowledge. Hence the general maxim that knowledge is power and with it, you can do the near impossible.
In just 2 and half years, Governor Buni has implemented this vision, that in order to move away from Ignorance, Diseases and Poverty, the people must be empowered. If the people are educated, all things being equal, there will be prosperity in the land and when there is prosperity, the solution to all other problems are assured. It has to be noted that, since his ascendancy as the Executive Governor of Yobe State, Governor Mai Mala Buni’s passion for the educational advancement of the state knew no bounds. Examples are legion, but the following will suffice.
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Everybody is evidently aware that Governor Buni has declared a state of emergency in the education sector during his inauguration on May 29, 2019, and a lot of things has happened and still happening with positive results. For example, Yobe State under
Governor Buni has already started the implementation of the report of the Technical Committee that was set up to revitalise basic and secondary education in the state.
The Committee, led by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, Prof. Malah Daura, was set up by the governor following the first-ever Yobe Education Summit, which was held on July 1st, 2019.
While the full recommendations of the committee will be implemented over time through various education sector agencies in coordination with the office of the SSG, Governor Buni has approved that the following be undertaken immediately:
a. A manpower audit to screen all teaching staff across the state, authenticate their certificates and the forms or types of formal training they had gone through.
b. Conduct basic, general and professional competency tests on teachers in the state.
c. Identification of teachers who need training, re-training or re-assigning to other sectors as appropriate and how to fill in any gaps that may arise.
d. Identification of additional qualified teachers for recruitment at all levels of the school system.
e. Establishment of one model school for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in each of the three senatorial districts of the state. Three existing schools will be converted for this purpose and a steering committee that has already been set up will work to formalise arrangements for conversion of the schools and the conduct of needs assessment to meet immediate take-off requirements.
The schools earmarked for STEM education are Government Secondary School Damaturu (Zone A), Government Science and Technical College Potiskum (Zone B) and Government Science and Technical College Nguru (Zone C).
My dear citizens of Yobe state, let me say that the Yobe Education Appeal Fund is not just to do the “usual routine of fundraising” but to share with the genuine aspiration and intentions of His Excellency towards ensuring good and qualitative education of our children and children’s children. Your identification with this aspiration in the form of contribution will go a long way towards enhancing the higher educational attainment of our children justifiably considered as future leaders and hence poverty reduction. Allah will reward you immensely for your contributions.
I submit that let everybody contribute his quota in whatever form to this noble objective, not just civil servants let each and every one of us contribute because the importance of education cannot be overemphasized.
In this era of transparency, accountability and given Governor Buni’s proven track record so far, and the blueprint for revamping education in the state, it’s indeed assuring that money accruing from this scheme will be judiciously utilised. That is why the government has taken the pain to set up Committee for implementation and we believe that posterity will not forgive them if they fail in this regard. We know they will not fail.
Finally, I urge you to be part of this novel project. If you do, the children in, and out of school in particular and indeed Yobe State, in general, will be unrelenting in their efforts to recompense. Thank you, Ma’assalam.
Yusuf Ali, Media Officer APC Headquarters, Abuja.
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