By Suleiman Hamid
Saturday 5 October 2024 saw an influx of red-capped individuals who flocked to the Eagle Square, Abuja for an important event. Side by side with teachers from the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT, they were for the 2024 World Teachers Day, where the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) honoured the Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf for his outstanding performance in the educational sector, alongside his counterparts from Borno, Oyo, Benue, Enugu, and Kebbi States.
Governor Yusuf was honoured with prestigious golden award for his exceptional performance in reforming the state’s education sector, during the colourful event. The event was held concurrently as numerous schools all over Kano were undergoing different levels of renovation to correct the decay that characterised them over the past 8 years in the state.
Transforming Kano’s educational sector with its sheer size is not a day job, but the signs of correction can be seen and the restoration of confidence in the system is as important as reaching the finish line. So, what is Governor Abba doing right?
First, the education sector got the highest allocation of N95 billion from the proposed N350 billion appropriation bill for the Kano State 2024 fiscal year, which is far beyond the UNESCO recommendation.
Concerned about funding this humongous allocation, the governor convened an international conference on education recovery to galvanize the support from national and international stakeholders in the education sector including multi-national and bilateral donor agencies. This has translated into the unlocking of donor funds that were hitherto unavailable to Kano State.
Another important step the governor took to restore confidence in pursuing higher education by young people in Kano is the settlement of examination fee backlogs owed to local and international examination bodies.
The NaZonal Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) was owed examination fees for the 2020, ,2021, 2022 sessions by the state government, Governor Abba Kabir settled this bill in June 2024 and subsequently secured the release of student results which were withheld for three years.
He also has paid the sum of N740,000,000.00 to NECO, NBAIS and NBTE for 2023 examinations, one will wonder if there was a government in Kano between 2015-23 with the mammoth backlog this administration is having to contend with. The answer lies ahead.
In response to the increased difficult living condition in Nigeria that has resulted in increase of tuition fees by the federal government in federal institutions, Governor Abba has so far paid the sum of N1,300,000,000.00 to 15 federal institutions to cushion the effect of the economy on Kano students. The Governor took a step further and paid off the backlog of the graduate and postgraduate students that were sponsored by the Kwankwaso administration in various private universities in Nigeria but left to their fate by the Ganduje administration and denied their results, these graduates are all now in possession of their certificates, all thanks to Governor Abba.
The governor also reviewed the 60-year-old State Education Law and also sent 1,001 graduates with first-class and second-class upper degrees for foreign post-graduate studies in India and Uganda. The students have already cemented their status as leaders in their classrooms by posting golden results ahead of their return to their motherland late this year or early 2025.
On the home front, Governor Abba has also approved for the reduction of 50% tuition fee in all Kano state owned tertiary institution to reflect relief to the students and their sponsors in the face of economic difficulties in the country.
He has also refurbished 73 high-capacity buses to shuttle girls to and from school on daily basis within the municipality local government areas, not excluding the increase by 100% the cost of feeding students in boarding schools across the state, this has translated to expending the sum of N4,000,000,000.00 to supply these boarding schools with food supplies promptly.
Governor Abba did not stop there, he also bought JAMB forms for 5,000 students in the state. He has also paid the sum of N2,900,000,000.00 to different examination bodies for SSCE Examination 2024 for 109,000 students.
To encourage the enrolment of pupils in primary school across the state, Gov. Yusuf approved and released the sum of N1,500,000,000.00 for the purchase and sewing of uniforms for Primary 1 pupils numbering more than 800,000 in 2024.
A healthy teacher makes a healthy student, the governor has prioritised the welfare of teachers by consistently ensuring prompt payment of teachers’ salary on the 25th to 26th of every month. He has also cleared the backlog of promotion from 2017 to 2022 affecting 39,000 eligible personnel in education sectors, mostly teachers. He has approved the payment and implementation of promotion to 20,542 teachers across the 44 Local Government Areas from 2023 to January 2024 with effect from 2nd October 2024.
Additionally, Governor Yusuf has as well released the sum of N300,000,000.00 to teachers as soft revolving loans. He recruited 5,643 teachers on permanent and pensionable appointment and recruited an additional 4,000 under the BESDA programme. Just last week, he distributed essential teaching and learning materials on a third occasion, spending more than N2,000,000,000.00.
Let’s get back to the classroom, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf has so far spent more than N3,500,000,000.00 to fabricate about 80,000 3-seater seats accommodating 240,000 students that were previously sitting on bare floor.
The Community Re-orientation Committees (CRC) across the 44 Local Government Areas are currently engaged in renovating and equipping thousands of classrooms in various schools, providing shelter for over 15,000 students at the cost of N2,000,000,000.00.
The Governor of Kano has approved the sum of N5,000,000,000 for the construction of hundreds of new standard classrooms completion across the 44 LGAs.
Governor Abba Kabir has also demonstrated profound commitment to restoring the dignity of young people in Kano State by bringing the 26 schools of entrepreneurship and skills back to life. While other schools are currently in various stages of restoration, the governor has officially opened the Kano School of Informatics, the Kano State Driving School, Aliko Dangote Skills Acquisition Centre, among others.
Governor Yusuf has once again prioritised education as a tool for positive change in Kano State within record time. He has been fulfilling the promises of periodic provision of free school desks; renovation of classrooms; construction of new classrooms and office accommodation; and teachers’ recruitment.
It is incumbent on all of us, the lovers of Kano to support this noble drive and ignore the naysayers. Governor Abba is here for restoration, and the time to fix Kano is now.
Suleiman Hamid writes from Kano
