How far can Atiku Bagudu go in Kebbi? (II)

Bagudu should institute the necessary reforms and ensure that both Western and Eastern types of education receive equal attention in order to produce morally sound and skilled persons. He should particularly examine the state of primary schools where the necessary foundation for good education is gained or lost. So appalling is the situation that a […]

Bagudu should institute the necessary reforms and ensure that both Western and Eastern types of education receive equal attention in order to produce morally sound and skilled persons. He should particularly examine the state of primary schools where the necessary foundation for good education is gained or lost. So appalling is the situation that a vast number of pupils who have completed primary school cannot even write their names.
In the two flagship secondary schools of the state – so called Nagari Science College and Unity (Girls) School, both in Birnin Kebbi – there has been a satanic disregard for the wellbeing of the students. The Unity School with a capacity for 1,500 students has nearly 3,000 of them. The dormitories, classes and toilets are all overstretched, with the girls’ excreta all around their dormitories. By undertaking a tour of the school twice in three days, to see for himself the wretched conditions in which the girls live, Governor Atiku Bagudu did well; likewise his request to the Parents – Teachers Association (PTA) to apply emergency measures to remedy the situation, using direct labour, since the previous government left an empty treasury. It’s doubtful if the former governor, Sa’idu Dakingari, would allow his daughter to study in that school; the dreadful conditions in which those girls live debase them and I think it is a terrible shame. Part of the long term solution to the congestion is to build one or two additional girls’ schools in Birnin Kebbi or relocate the neighbouring primary school (named after the governor) in order to create additional space for the Unity School. 
Inside the classes, the students of the Unity School sit on metal and in the dormitories, they sleep on the ground. It’s doubly shameful when it is realised that the Unity School is a student exchange institution which means that some of the girls come from other states. What ex-Governor Dakingari did was to build inhospitable schools in the villages while neglecting those in the town. His guiding principle had been to hold down the towns and everything inside them until those in the villages could catch up! It will be unthinkable for Governor Bagudu to spare all those officials of Ministry of Education flapping babban riga and claiming to administer education in the state. Let the officials show memo where they warned the previous government of the dangerous conditions inside Unity School.
With this rot in our schools, we now know that Dakingari’s claim that he spent billions of Naira on education is a scam. We also know that Dakingari dumped the recommendations of the Professor Attahiru Jega committee on education which he had gleefully commissioned. It’s now left for Governor Bagudu to dust off the committee’s work and implement those recommendations. The new governor may wish to take an audit of our schools, number of teachers, students (science and arts), laboratories, etc, and work towards closing the gaps and motivating everyone. The government should also (re)activate the system that measures progress or lack of it in our schools. Indigent but brilliant students in particular must be identified and encouraged to further their education. The new administration should also take another look at the figures for scholarship awards for students in tertiary institutions. Like in Kano under former Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso, Governor Bagudu must widen the sponsorship opportunities for education of students of Kebbi at home and abroad.
Some of the energy and enthusiasm of our young men can also be channelled into sporting activities. Nothing stops the Kebbi State Government (KBSG) from building mini-stadia in Zuru and Yauri, for example, to give our youths the opportunity to learn some sports like Hockey, Handball, Basketball, Tennis, etc. The state can employ qualified coaches to transfer skills to our youths and enable them develop themselves and even achieve laurels for the state. The difference between our youths and others is the skills we deny them through coaching and mentoring but which those others are availed of. Undoubtedly, if we commence a four or eight-year youths sports plan now, we can develop a pool of talents that we can be proud of in various sports. We can even launch a state football team to compete in the league. Unfortunately, in the whole of Kebbi today, there isn’t a single standard football field and sports is completely ignored.
The new administration in Kebbi needs to create massive public works to address mass youth unemployment. Road construction at Bayan Kara, Badariya, Aliero Quarters, Legislative Quarters, Makerar Gandu, etc, in Birnin Kebbi, can benefit from abundant youthful energy and provide income. Kebbi Urban Development Authority (KUDA) can be strengthened and refocused to achieve progress in road construction/rehabilitation as well as the provision of road furniture. However, it is doubtful if anything can be achieved under the current leadership of KUDA as it is presently steeped in land matters and its officials are painfully in cahoots with land grabbers. There should be concerted efforts to clear public places like the markets, motor parks, schools and other areas in the state capital of some of the filth. The Kebbi State Transport Authority (KBTA), Water Board, Rural Electrification Board, Board of Internal Revenue, SUBEB, Local Government Service Commission, Civil Service Commission, Kebbi Environmental Protection Authority, etc, should all wake up to their responsibilities and heed what Dr Goodluck Jonathan told Professor Jega: create employment in INEC. Governor Bagudu should charge these parastatals to employ our youths in Kebbi. He should also go after all the federal parastatals whose establishment laws require them to open shop in states to do so in Kebbi promptly and give our people their due.