Maryam Abacha University seeks Media Trust collaboration on quality education

The management of Maryam Abacha American University (MAAUN), has sought the collaboration of Media Trust Group to guarantee quality and accessible education to Nigerians, especially in the northern part of the country. The president of the university, Professor Mohammad Israr, who led a team to Media Trust Group’s headquarter in Abuja on Thursday said the […]

The management of Maryam Abacha American University (MAAUN), has sought the collaboration of Media Trust Group to guarantee quality and accessible education to Nigerians, especially in the northern part of the country.

The president of the university, Professor Mohammad Israr, who led a team to Media Trust Group’s headquarter in Abuja on Thursday said the university is the first bilingual university in Nigeria and sub-Saharan with students from 12 nationalities of Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Turkish, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Benin, Morocco, Ethiopia.

He said the university is offering French as compulsory subject to all students and that they have been fully accredited by the National Universities Commission.

Speaking, the university’s Executive Director of African Institute for Solutions and Development, Yola, Dr Salisu Lawal said the university is working to become a local developmental focus one and want to offer every student opportunity to become a global individual with the ability to speak different languages.

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He said the university has over 5,000 students and that 90 per cent of them are women.

“We want them to lead, to become the future leaders of development in northern Nigeria particularly, and much later, to cover the whole of Nigeria. And our vision is going beyond Nigeria, beyond West Africa, to the whole of Africa,” he said.

The Executive Director said they are moving development from the hands of the people to the community.

He said: “Education has become an issue in Nigeria, particularly in Northern Nigeria. 19 million children are out of school in Nigeria. 75% of them are in Northern Nigeria and the vast majority of that 75% is in northwest Nigeria. And when you talk about out-of-school children, when we talk about teaching in Northern Nigeria, our first major problem is the Almajiri system.”

Lawal said the university embarked on research on how the Almajiri system can be addressed and has come up with possible solution to the issue, saying, “We designed an innovation and a concept that we think if northern governments can buy into it, if communities in Northern Nigeria, all the wards in the local government can buy into it and individuals on the streets can buy into it, and we implement it successfully for 10 years, we will solve the Almajiri problem.”

Also, the varsity’s BOT chair, Audu Liman noted that the almajiri issue is not a federal issue and people try to push it to the government. It’s actually a state-by-state issue and the governors are running the states and as a result should take the issue very seriously.”

He said: “We are trying to create social pressure, social demand by the communities to say to the government, we cannot distinguish our own direct state of impact. So we need research to show the gravity of the challenge.

“We just commissioned the research at the university, where we are doing a whole statewide survey and assessment of the out-of-school phenomenon. If you hold it to almajiri, it’s a small sector, so we’re doing that assessment.”