Re: Why North lags in education by Prof. Adamu

Thanks to the V.C of NOUN, Prof. Abdullah Uba Adamu, the wrongly conceived idea by the Southern based media that the Northern elites keep their masses away from school so that they can have plenty of people who are there to worship, serve and do their dirty jobs, has got a rubber-stamp. How sad and […]

Thanks to the V.C of NOUN, Prof. Abdullah Uba Adamu, the wrongly conceived idea by the Southern based media that the Northern elites keep their masses away from school so that they can have plenty of people who are there to worship, serve and do their dirty jobs, has got a rubber-stamp. How sad and far away from reality.

Our elites did a lot in education in the North. Most of the Northern graduates are from rural backgrounds and most of us enjoyed free education, provided, financed, established and maintained by the various state governments. Most of the institutions of higher learning in the North are owned by the government, either federal or state. The students who are in their own state government owned schools do not pay school fees. They are even given free accommodation, where such facilities exist.

Most of the primary and secondary schools are also run by the government. How can someone who is a product of free education and a Northerner and professor say our elites are not doing enough in educating our children? Truly speaking there is need to do more and copy what successive administrations are doing on education in Jigawa, Kano states, to mention but a few.

Every well meaning Northerner was praising Sen. Kashim Shettima, the former Borno state governor for building boarding primary schools for the children of the refugees. Our rural population prior to the advent of the Buhari administration were subsistence farmers who cannot afford to pay school fees, buy textbooks, uniforms and feeding, hence most of the post primary schools are boarding.

In fact no political candidate in the North will mention education as a manifesto because it is taken for granted. When I first interacted with my Southern colleagues   I could not comprehend the way they were praising late Awolowo. Because Ahmed Bello was paying us to go to school.  Up to now we have the least number of private schools in Nigeria, because we enjoy the cheap and free  state government run schools. To buttress my point please ask anyone from Biu Emirate about the Buhari administration and he/she will praise him because of the Army University.

Professor, sir, please make research, think and share views before you rewrite a negative stereotype on you and your colleagues.

 

Dr. Saidu Samaila  [email protected]