January 16, 2023, will remain historic for me. I accompanied my sister, one of the 221 law graduates from various universities being awarded scholarships by Governor 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 a girl(s) 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 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 cannot afford the money. Thanks to the Yobe state government for offsetting all 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, Kwara state, for my university education, my sister’s came with a lot of ease, courtesy of the friendly policies initiated by the Buni administration in its efforts to reposition education in the state.
The declaration of state of emergency on basic and secondary education by Governor 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 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, Yobe 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 has 371 across 16 countries including Egypt, India, the UK, China, Turkey, Malaysia, Russia, and others, with the beneficiaries of the scholarship pursuing a wide range of academic disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Interestingly, the Buni administration had in the last four years sponsored over 400 law graduates for their professional course at the Nigeria Law School. This benevolence of the Buni administration is equally extended to graduates of other professional courses like accountancy, medicine, and linguistics, among others.
The 221 beneficiaries of the Nigeria Law School scholarship were classified into streams A and B. The A stream has 125, most of whom graduated earlier but have not gone to Law School until now. Each of them was awarded N376,000 and a laptop while stream B had 96 beneficiaries who got N475,000 and a 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 Nigeria 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 in seven universities in India. They would after graduation contribute hugely to the manpower requirements in the critical sectors in the state.
Listening to the governor, l 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 Nigeria 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.
Our dear governor, 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 Muhammad,
Damaturu, Yobe state [email protected]
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