A look at education under Almakura
of Monday October 8, 2012 came as a reality check on the situation of things in Nasarawa State more than a year and a half into the tenure of Tanko Almakura as governor. The publication has also jolted the Almakura Administration into yet another frenzy of blaming the Aliyu Akwe Doma administration in a knee-jerk […]
of Monday October 8, 2012 came as a reality check on the situation of things in Nasarawa State more than a year and a half into the tenure of Tanko Almakura as governor. The publication has also jolted the Almakura Administration into yet another frenzy of blaming the Aliyu Akwe Doma administration in a knee-jerk reaction that is now widely regarded in the state as “shadow-phobia” of delusive proportions. Almakura’s education commissioner, Hussaini Abubakar was so rattled by the Daily Trust’s pictorial expose of dilapidated governance under his ministry that he hurriedly issued a press release same day accusing the newspaper of “cheap blackmail” supposedly motivated by “external collaborators” and claimed that the picture was a “clear demonstration of the kind of rot that was inherited by the CPC government from the past administration”.
As the Commissioner of Education under the Aliyu Akwe Doma administration I am duty bound to express dismay and
join issues with the incumbent commissioner’s futile effort to transfer the tarnished record of performance captured in the picture of Central Pilot Primary School, Akwanga as published in the Daily Trust to the Aliyu Akwe Doma
administration. I make bold to state categorically and without any fear of contradiction that the said picture depicts the current condition of the school but certainly not its condition at the end of the tenure of Aliyu Akwe Doma, Madauchin Doma in May 2011. It is part of the sterling performance of the Aliyu Akwe Doma administration that this particular school was in good shape in terms of infrastructure, buildings and utilities and in particular the roofing was intact as any honest citizen of Nasarawa State can willingly testify. It is
evident that the dilapidated condition of the school is a recent predicament and a typical example of the havoc wreaked on the Doma legacy of indelible achievements since the ill-wind of CPC blew into Nasarawa State through the political back door 18 months ago.
It is pertinent for me to also put on record the incontrovertible fact that the Education Reform Programme of the Aliyu Akwe Doma administration did not only positively impact on the
development and quality of education at all levels throughout the state but significantly also left four billion naira, comprising two billion naira from state government coffers and a matching grant of two billion naira from UBEC, Abuja in the UBE account in May 2011. This presents yet another
ponderous poser to the incumbent education commissioner and indeed the Almakura Administration as to the whereabouts of such a huge amount of money that could
have promptly saved Central Pilot School Akwanga from the impact of a storm.
Only when we get clear answers to these public queries will the public be interested in the belated and panicky disclosure by the education commissioner that “a contract of more than N 9 million” has been awarded for the rehabilitation of the Akwanga school and that it will take “two to three months” for the job to be done. Public accountability demands that the
public should be told exactly how much it is worth and precisely how many months it will last. But when you do things under panic of an unexpected exposure of dilapidated governance you are almost certainly manufacturing
non-existent “facts” that lack truth and exactitude. If a contract existed at least one blown-off roofing sheet could have been replaced before the Trust photographer got the picture!
As a commissioner in the Aliyu Akwe Doma Administration, it always amazes me to witness the seeming obsession
of the Almakura government with the blame-game whenever it is confronted by a major challenge to its sincerity of purpose and competence in governance. Even after a year and a half they are still talking of “inherited rot” even over a
little matter of maintenance of the storm-ravaged roof of a major school like the Central Pilot Primary School, Akwanga as if government is not a continuous process ! Of course this is the result of the inherent visionless and rudderless limitations that have characterized governance in Nasarawa State since June 2011 and which are also glaringly manifest in the sheer absence of any ground-breaking development worthy of mention across the state.
At this rate, the Almakura Administration is akin to the immature child who has morbid fear of the tiger and continues to tremble even in its absence! For God’s sake Nasarawa State is in desperate need of rapid development and an achieving government that will be known by meaningful projects and dynamic programmes. A government that is well into its second year is already on its way out of a four-year tenure and it should wake from slumber and face the reality. Indeed, I agree with my successor that those who live by the sword of propaganda and deceit will surely die by it!
Ubam, Nasarawa State Commissioner for Education in the Aliyu Akwe Doma Administration, wrote from Lafia.