The Sokoto State government yesterday declared a state of emergency in the education sector with a pledge to turn the sector around in the next four years.
Announcing the decision after the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal in Sokoto, the Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Saidu Umar, said henceforth, extra ordinary measures would be implemented within a defined time-frame to achieve the desired result.
He said statistics on education in Sokoto were not only worrisome but regrettable, adding that with the new policy in place, government hopes to reverse the negative trend for the benefit of the state.
“Our objective is to improve enrolment at all stages-basic, secondary and tertiary. By the end of this programme, we will ensure that our quotas in all federal schools are filled,” he said.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Umaru Nagwari Tambuwal, said the government had earmarked N1.5billion for dry season farming. He said the money would be used to procure 150 trucks of fertilizer and other inputs which would be sold to farmers at subsidised rates.
Another decision reached at the council meeting include rendering of emergency assistance to 20,000 rice, onion, wheat and tomato farmers to mitigate the effect of last season’s flood.
