In the quest to transform the education landscape of the North East region of Nigeria, the North East Development Commission-Education Endowment Fund (NEDC-EEF) says it is ready to adopt some of the salient recommendations prepared by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.
This was made known by the Chairman of the Fund, Chief David Sabo Kente, in his presentation as one of the speakers at a Zoom Conference, aimed at ameliorating the poor educational spectacle of the region.
Chief Kente, who spoke from Abuja, the nation’s capital, was of the opinion that the North East Development Commission-Education Endowment Fund (NEDC-EEF) is worried about the current situation of education in the region thus, the need to adopt the proposed recommendations is more than imperative.
In a statement signed by Macauley Hunohashi,Kante emphasised that the endowment fund would key into the report “as soon as possible”.
Ealier, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, and former Governor of Niger State, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, lauded the effort of the founding fathers, especially Sir Ahmadu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto, in realising the paramount place of education as a panacea for development in the region.
He stated that 9-10 million out of school children in Nigeria are located in the northern region out of a total of 14 million.
Dr Aliyu said the doors of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation will remain open for collaboration and interface with critical stakeholders with a strong view to addressing the backward trend of education that bedevils the region.
Former minister of education, Prof Ruqayya Ahmed Rufai, took perticipants through a long and detailed journey of the research, with a power-point presentation, which she said had revealed alot that needs to be addressed by governments across all tiers.
She noted, with sadness, how the legacy and vision of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello was abandoned as can be attested to by the results of their findings which include, absence of political will, poor infrastructure development, lack of training for teachers, delapidated classrooms and poor morale, as well as lack of incentives for parents to promote access to schools, lack of interest by some state governments to access education funds and insensitivity to provide for children with special needs among others.
Other contributors who spoke in the same token include a one time minister of education and former governor of Kano State, Senator (Mallam) Ibrahim Shekarau, governor Lalong of Plateau State who was represented by the Secretary to the state government as well as Aisha Garba of the World Bank.
The Zoom Conference was organised by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, with the theme “Education in Northern Nigeria:t Status, Challenges and the Way Forward.
