Kaduna: Governor Uba Sani’s Giant Strides in Education

Sir: Since his inauguration as the executive governor of Kaduna State on May, 29 2023, Governor Uba Sani has never hidden his desire and passion to develop education in the state. Evidence is the reduction or slashing of tuition fees of state’s tertiary institutions by 50% as witnessed last year.

The downward review of the fees aligns with his government’s commitment to offer palliatives to cushion the effect of general rising cost of living in the polity, especially in the wake of recent petroleum subsidy removal.

The governor continues to take all measures necessary to ensure access to free and qualitative education for every child in Kaduna State from primary to secondary school; expand access to higher education; enhance teachers’ welfare and teaching standards; improve school infrastructure; build ICT competence in students from basic education level; and intensify investments in technical and vocational education.

Governor Uba Sani did not stop at that. His sympathy for the less privileged has further manifested recently, where he directed the state university to allow students facing financial difficulties to sit for exams despite outstanding school fees for the 2023/2024 academic session. The university’s management, will later in a statement explain that the development was under the directive of Governor Uba Sani, to lessen the impact of current economic challenges on its student body. Governor Uba Sani’s giant strides in education within a period of less than a year are a testimony of his avowed determination and commitment to improve literacy rate in the state.

The trajectory of primary education in Kaduna State started during the last administration of Nasir El-rufai where thousands of primary school teachers considered incompetent or unqualified were sacked. However, the subsequent recruitment by the government failed to fill in the vacuum created by the massive retrenchment. I believe Governor Uba Sani is not unaware of the understaffing in the primary education. Some primary schools in the state are in desperate need of teachers.

Disturbingly, one can find many schools with more population but insufficient teachers to cover up expected lessons. The governor should scale up massive recruitment to augment the shortages of manpower. If the twins problems of inadequate teachers and training of teaching personal are addressed, our struggling primary education will breathe a new life, emerge stronger and become a force to reckon with.