January 16, 2023, will forever remain historic for me. I accompanied my sister, one of the 221 law graduates from various universities being awarded scholarships by His Excellency, Gov Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State to pursue their professional certificate at the Nigerian Law School to enable them practice the law profession.
The journey of girls from indigent families to pursue education was only possible through the goodwill of my state government which offered free education at the primary, secondary, university and at the professional certificate levels.
Honestly, my dream, my sister’s dream, and of course, the dream of many students from families with weak economic backgrounds to acquire education wouldn’t have been possible if not for my state government’s free education policy. The burden of affording registration and examination fees would have terminated our quest for education because many parents would not afford the money. Thanks to the Yobe State Government for offsetting all the fees for every student attending public school in the state.
While my pursuit of education was a bit challenging, sourcing funds to travel to Ilorin for my university education, my sister’s came with a lot of ease courtesy of the beautiful and friendly policies initiated by the Buni administration in its efforts to reposition education in the state.
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The declaration of a state of emergency on basic and secondary education by Gov Buni has improved the performance of our students, with many of them gaining admission to study within and outside the country.
I am proud to say that the number of youths pursuing second and third degrees has surged compared to what was obtained in the past. Today, some of them are given opportunities by the Buni regime to serve as chief executives of boards and parastatals, cultivating them young for future quality leadership.
According to Dr Abubakar Kagu, the Executive Secretary of the Yobe State Scholarship Board, there are 38,183 students in 67 tertiary institutions enjoying government scholarships pursuing their first, second and third degrees.
He revealed that today Yobe State has one of the largest numbers of state-sponsored students in foreign countries. Yobe proudly has 371 across 16 countries, including Egypt, India, the UK, China, Turkey, Malaysia and Russia, with the beneficiaries of the scholarships pursuing a wide range of academic disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Interestingly, the Buni administration in the last four years sponsored over 400 law graduates for their professional course at the Nigeria Law School. This benevolence by the Buni administration is equally extended to graduates of other professional courses like accountancy, medical sciences, linguistics, among others.
The 221 beneficiaries of the Nigerian Law School scholarship were classified into two streams: A and B. The A stream has a total of 125, most of who graduated earlier but had not gone to law school. Each of them was awarded N376,000 and a laptop, while stream B had 96 beneficiaries and benefitted N475,000 and a computer laptop each. The difference is based on the fact that stream B was affected by the recent upward review of the tuition fee of the Nigerian Law School.
It was a piece of good news that the state government was sponsoring 233 students under the Buni Foreign Scholarship Students Programme. They are currently studying health, agriculture and engineering, nursing, pharmacy, radiology/optometry, petroleum engineering, and information technology studies in seven universities in India, who would after graduation, contribute hugely to the manpower requirements in the critical sectors in the state.
Equally interesting is the news that the state government under Governor Buni embarked on the Tertiary Institutions Teacher Training Scheme (TITTS) to address the gap in qualified teaching staff in state-owned tertiary institutions. The beneficiaries, 10 at a go, came from the school of nursing, academic staff from the Yobe State University, CAmTECH Potiskum, College for Legal Studies Nguru and the Mai Alooma Polytechnic, Geidam.
Listening to the governor, I was overwhelmed when he opened his address with a congratulatory message to the beneficiaries of the scholarship on the successful completion of their degree programme, with a wish for a very fruitful outing to the Nigerian Law School.
His address was that of a father passionate about the success of his children. An attempt by four of us seated on the same row to identify the parents or backgrounds of the benefitting students failed. We could trace the backgrounds of those seated very close to us. A simple indication that the scheme is never meant for the children of “who is who”. The fact that most of the benefitting students were from indigent backgrounds and given this opportunity is never in question. Thank you our dear governor for giving the less privileged a chance to be educated.
He continued, “As you are aware, this administration places a high premium on quality education from the basic foundation through the tertiary, and professional courses such as Law, accountancy, medical sciences, among others.
“This explains why our government has been consistent in providing conducive environments in our schools through reconstructing destroyed and dilapidated schools, and establishing new ones. We have also been providing instructional materials and all the necessary teaching and learning equipment to our tertiary and health institutions’’.
“I am glad to state with a sense of fulfillment that the consistency of this administration in upscaling the education sector has been quite fulfilling and fruitful as reflected in the performance of our students generally.
“Today’s ceremony of awarding scholarships to our law students to attend the Nigerian Law School is in continuation of the support this administration has continued to render in the last four years to the law students to obtain their professional certificates. This is in line with our comprehensive and holistic approach to the development of education as a driver of human capital development.”
He advised, “You should, therefore, pursue your professional course with a great sense of commitment and responsibility to justify government investments in you, and to make our dear state proud. You should strive to be good Ambassadors of the state, and remain reference points of academic and moral excellence.”
His address became emotional when our father, the kind-hearted governor, concluded by saying, “l wish you a very successful course and look forward to attending your graduation at the end of your study.”
My emotions failed me and I could no longer control the tears rolling down my cheeks.
Our dear governor, sir, your investments in education remain the best legacy any government can bequeath to its citizens for a brighter and prosperous future. There is no doubt that these investments will touch every life in Yobe, and with a prosperous future for our dear state.
Thank you, sir, and thank you again!
Aisha can be reached via [email protected]