Recently, there have been media commentaries by praise-singers and spurious people who are out to harm the reputation, credentials and successes of Sule Lamido who served as the governor of Jigawa State for eight years despite his physical and realistic achievements in the state. They make the previous administration under Sule Lamido appear untrustworthy, bad and not worthy of celebration.
This present administration casts doubt on the validity of so many achievements of Sule Lamido in the State. It tries to appear holier than the saints; more prudent than King Solomon and more transparent than anything you may think of. But it lacks facts, objectivity and convincing reasons to justify its assessment of what Lamido did on education in Jigawa State. Also, you cannot argue against facts or refute what is true on what Lamido did in Jigawa especially in the educational sector.
Well, sycophancy, campaign of calumny and name calling never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such worldly aims to the ambition of the conservative. But selflessness and accomplishment matter a lot. Sule Lamido has done his best in the eight years he served as a governor of Jigawa State in all human endeavours. Lamido strived always to see to the happiness and wellbeing of the people. Governor Badaru should remember or bear in mind that, in the end, you’re measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish and Lamido has accomplished a lot for which we always pray for him and remain ever grateful the way he changed the direction and thinking of our people. Also, for improving our lives and our state, the strong institutions he built and the legacies he left behind.
Whenever Nigerians gather to discuss the state of education in the country, we all seem to reach a consensus rather hurriedly, that our educational system has deteriorated for long, but in Jigawa, the case is different. In his efforts to see Jigawa as part of globalized era, Lamido gave education priority and also allocated a lot of money in his annual budgets to education.
When Lamido got into office in 2007, he inherited a total of 18,000 primary school teachers and out of these; only 6,000 were qualified, meaning 12,000 others were not qualified. He had to negotiate with National Teachers Institute Kaduna to train those that can be trained. What a diligent, committed and passion leader!
In his first tenure, new schools were built and some were renovated; 1,061 classrooms were constructed across the state and some were renovated, and the government purchased 62, 981 classroom furniture. Out of the 779 dilapidated schools he inherited in 2007, Lamido renovated and restored 648 to full standard staffed and well equipped institutions, with functional libraries and laboratories of WAEC standard. He also established 21 new junior secondary schools, as well as 216 nomadic schools across the state. The classrooms have modern instructional technologies with computers, projectors, auto-video and conferencing equipment.
Sule also initiated and implemented a scholarship scheme for the best 100 students in the sciences every year and sent them to overseas universities. Lamido expended N500m on foreign sponsorship of indigenes in various science and technical courses. It was Governor Lamido who ended the 16-year embargo on foreign sponsorships in Jigawa State. The decision to lift the embargo on sponsoring students for foreign studies abroad was to accelerate the process of human development, and to invest heavily in education and training of youths in various courses to enable them compete with their peers in other parts of the country.
Lamido knows that teachers cannot perform miracles without necessary teaching and learning tools. That is why these are provided frequently and distributed everywhere in the state. The welfare of staff is one area that Lamido must be commended. Salaries and other entitlements are paid promptly. Scholarship is awarded without sentiment. Training and re-training of staff were all in place in order to improve and keep the staff up to date. I agree with Samuel M. Lindsay, who once said “The quality of education and the level of educational attainment of a people determine the quality of its leaders and people”
I eulogise Lamido for sending many Jigawa indigenes to study abroad in different areas of specialisations in order to take Jigawa to greater heights. He capped all these with the establishment of a completely modern State university, which has since set sail. I extol Sule Lamido for establishing Jigawa State University at Kafin-Hausa in order to afford state indigenes greater access to higher education opportunities. Before the establishment of the State University, half of eligible candidates of Jigawa origin who seek admission into higher institutions in other universities fail to get it due to lack of opportunities, hence the very warm welcome with which Jigawa citizens received the establishment of the state university, which is now named after him “Sule Lamido University, Kafin-Hausa”
The NYSC permanent orientation camp and sports complex is another area in which Lamido will be commended for encouraging educational sector in the state and promoting national unity and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians.
This is because the corpers from all over the country used to be curious and desperate annually to come to Jigawa to serve because of the unity, sanitation, convenience, safety and facilities of that orientation camp which is named “Yakubu Gowon N.Y.S.C Orientation Camp”
About The Nigerian Blogger
0 comments :
Post a Comment