By Abdulkadir Sulaiman
After failing to achieve its dirty ambition of leveling corruption scandal against the people’s governor, by using the former IGP Abubakar’s Committee on finding lasting peace to the lingering security challenges, oppositions in Zamfara state have now jumped to the Education sector.
The oppositions have allegedly released a video of dilapidated toilet of Government Science Secondary school Shinkafi. It is glaringly clear that the school management did not inform the authorities concerned about the bad condition of the toilet that is why Governor Matawalle’s administration did not renovate it. Matawalle’s administration has been up and doing towards salvaging the education sector from total collapsed. The way the video went viral, pointed to the fact that some mischief makers were behind the said video circulating in the Social media.
When Governor Bello Mohammed took over the affairs of Zamfara state last year, he met a lot of crises especially in the areas of security, education and health. The immediate concern was to address the security issues which were at a point of societal breakdown. The governor has immediately after assumption of office, dedicated his time towards addressing the security challenges bedeviling the state for many years. Many lives, homes and property were lost to the crises.
The rot in health and education sectors was equally monumental. The hospitals in the state are in a very critical state. This is in spite of the fact that rural areas do not even have dispensaries to address their primary health demands. Governor Matawalle, in only one year, constructed and equipped Kagara hospital with modern facilities. He also improves the existing hospitals in the state by providing them with many of their requirements which include drugs, new ambulances among others.
The rural areas were not left behind as Governor Matawalle administration embarks on building a 50-bed primary health care hospitals for each of the 147 wards in the state which are now in various stages of completion. Similarly, 147 tricycle ambulances have been acquired for each of these hospitals to be distributed when these centers are completed. An orthopedic hospital is also being built at Shinkafi at the cost of over N2 billion.
In the area of education, Governor Bello Mohammed began by addressing the rot in our primary schools. He built and renovated over 1000 classroom blocks in our primary schools across the state in addition the provision of qualitative furniture. He employed nearly 600 qualified primary school teachers with a view to improving teaching and learning in addition to the construction of a model primary school in Maradun.
The administration of Governor Matawalle has already started addressing multiple challenges affecting various secondary schools in the state. Though all the challenges affecting the schools cannot be addressed in one year, but the governor remains committed in fixing the system. The renovation of Government Girls Secondary school Kwatarkwashi is in progress while efforts are being made to improve feeding programs in all the benefitting schools.
It is in line with his pledge to address the problems affecting the education sector that in the current fiscal provision in the state, education was allocated the highest share of the budget with 19%. It is worthy to note that at the time the Matawalle administration assumed office, graduating secondary school students could not write their SSCE examinations while the results of the previous ones were withheld due to the failure of the previous administration to settle the exams fees of the students. Upon assumption of office, Governor Matawalle’s administration paid the money and the results of the affected students have since been released.
Indeed, everywhere in Nigeria today, one is bound to find one or two of similar condition as portrayed in that video. But the intent behind this video going round the social media is dead on arrival because it is an unwitting indictment of the previous administration that allowed it to reach this stage and equally failed to address it. There is no magic that Matawalle can use to address all these multiple rots in only one year he has spent in office. But then, it is clear to all people of Zamfara that the adminstaration of Governor Matawalle is committed enough to ensure that by the end of its tenure, it has left Zamfara state better than it met it.
Sulaiman writes from Gusau.