Masari’s exemplary commitment to public schools

In fulfillment of one of his campaign promises, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has sent two of his school-age children to a public school. Governor Masari had pledged to do so while addressing his audience during the political campaigns of the 2015 general elections that brought him to Katsina State Government House. It […]

In fulfillment of one of his campaign promises, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State has sent two of his school-age children to a public school. Governor Masari had pledged to do so while addressing his audience during the political campaigns of the 2015 general elections that brought him to Katsina State Government House. It was heartwarming to read in the Daily Trust newspaper of Thursday April 14, 2016, that the governor further directed all public officers in the state to also send their children and wards to public-funded schools.
This worthy action taken by the governor reflects his genuine commitment towards improving the state of public schools in Katsina. It was equally cheering to read in the story that majority of public officers concerned have complied with the governor’s directive.
Masari’s children are attending the Family Support Primary School in Katsina. The Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Mustapha Inuwa, a former Chief of Staff to the governor, Dikko Radda, as well as commissioners serving in the governor’s cabinet are said to have all enrolled their children in the school. This particular school, it was reported, now has better facilities and teachers than obtains in other public schools in Katsina. It was gathered that more teachers were sent to the school after the governor’s children were admitted. Whether or not this was a product of the usual ‘eye-service’ done by civil servants to appease a governor, the school is, at least, currently getting some official attention from government.
The choice of Governor Masari to register his children in a public school makes him a model for other public officers in the executive and legislative arms of government at all the three tiers. Masari is indeed a symbol of altruistic leadership for the remaining 35 governors and their commissioners; for the 36 ministers in the Federal Executive Council (FEC); for all the 109 senators; for all the 360 members of the House of Representatives; and for all the 774 local government chairmen (elected or appointed) in the country. Governor Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i who reportedly made a similar pledge during his political campaigns for the 2015 elections is, according to the story, yet to enroll his children in any public school as promised. It is never late for him to do so as the fulfillment of the pledge makes him a man of his words, which adds to whatever credible records of integrity he may have hitherto earned. 
Even if the school which Governor Masari’s children are attending appears to be better equipped or well-staffed, the school is government-owned. Is it not better that the huge sums of money paid by parents to private schools (sometimes outside Nigeria) are rather spent to improve upon the infrastructural state of the public schools which their children attend? Other latent gains of Masari’s ethical resolve include the reversal of a modern elitist trend in which public schools are left by wicked-minded leaders to suffer total neglect. The presence of the children of policy makers in public schools will, hopefully, increase the prospect of such schools getting the attention they deserve from government. This courageous approach of Governor Masari will equally help to check the two decade-old fashion of educational tourism, at least, among Katsina elites many of whom this writer believes went to school when there were no private schools.
As young as some of us are, we attended public schools from primary through the university. Even if some parents had desired then to enroll their children or wards in private schools, there were none because there was no need for them. There was no need because leaders at that time were selflessly and genuinely committed to the responsibilities placed upon them by the schedule of the public offices in which they respectively served. Teachers and all other stakeholders in the sector similarly remained dedicated to the principles and practice of effective teaching and learning.  I attended Central Primary School Agaie in Niger State; one of the only two public primary schools that existed then in the town, which was the same school attended by the children of the then Divisional Secretary (DS); the name by which administrative heads of divisions in the provinces were then called. The DS, a post-independent nomencleture that replaced the erstwhile colonial Divisional Officer (DO), is the origin of what much later came to be known (after some administrative reforms) as local government chairman.
Although I came from the home of a poor Arabic teacher, I studied in the same class and played together with children of many government officials posted by the defunct North-western state government to work in Agaie/Lapai division. They include children of the Divisional Forestry Officer, the Divisional Treasurer, the Area Engineer, etc. Today, my own children do not enjoy this privilege as they go to public schools while many of my contemporaries, especially those in positions of authority, send their children to private schools. Why? Because most Nigerian leaders in the past two and half decades radically replaced uprightness with a hybrid variety of corruption; contentment with greed; commitment with self-centredness; and accountability with the worst brand of impunity.
The Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu is encouraged to convince President Muhammadu Buhari, using all positive arguments, to domesticate Governor Masari’s idea at the FEC and for all chief executives of federal agencies and organisations. Of course, proprietors of public schools will be unhappy with this proposal. However, the expected outcome which is in the common national interest of all Nigerians certainly supersedes the economic interest of school proprietors. One of the national goals of Nigeria’s National Policy on Education is the building of a just and egalitarian society where ‘every Nigerian child shall have the right to equal educational opportunities irrespective of any real or imagined disabilities.’ May Allah (SWT) guide our leaders to appreciate and recognise education as the basic instrument for national development; giving it the attention it deserves, amin.
Condolence:
We condole with the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar (CFR) over the death of one of his wives, Hajiya Bintu, which sad event occurred on Monday April 25, 2016 and was buried same day at Bida. We pray that Allah (SWT) grants her eternal forgiveness and mercy just as we also pray that the Almighty Comforter grants His Royal Highness the fortitude to bear this loss, amin.