Worried by the increase in number of out-of-school children in Bauchi State coupled with the decline in the standard of education, the state Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed has declared that his administration has failed the people of the state in terms of educational development.
The Governor also berated the Management of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as well as Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) Secretaries for sabotaging his efforts at developing the Sector better than how his administration met it in 2019.
Bala was speaking at the opening of a meeting of education sector stakeholders including SUBEB management, Ministry of Education, LGEA Secretaries and LGA Caretaker Chairmen held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House on Monday.
The Governor who was visibly angry while addressing the people said that, “I was thinking loudly when I discussed with a few Commissioners, that of Education, Local Government Affairs and the Chief of Staff that we need to focus on education.”
He added “My attention was drawn to some areas where, completely, SUBEB is not doing anything after spending so many years there and bragging that we have renovated over 5,000 classrooms.”
According to him, “There are Mega Schools that have been left untouched, unenumerated, unaccess, they were not even brought forward by the Agency for renovation. I think the quality of our work is not something to go home with because I have visited those Schools myself and the roofs are licking or blown off.”
Bala Mohammed lamented that “The quality of supervision by SUBEB is appalling, so you have the opportunity to change. I have done my best but, certainly, there is no supervision, no quality control, it has been business as usual.”
He declared that “I am highly disappointed with all managers in the Sector, from my humble self, the SSG that is supervising SUBEB, the Ministry of Education and the LGAs. We have not done well in that sector.”
“You are not doing anything, it is just eye service and making money, that is all and I will not allow this to continue, no, it must not continue. In Dumi here, a few kilometers from here, an old school, older than some of the towns in Bauchi with about 20 classes is left abandoned. Our pupils are sitting on the mats, all the roofs have been blown off,” he decried.
The Governor further stressed that “One of the LGA Chairman of Bauchi is from that area, it is a shame. The same thing with me, in my area, when I visited on an evening visit myself, even here in Yelwa, schools were left abandoned as if we have not started anything. I don’t understand.”
He added, “There was a time I gave you a marching order that all these schools should be enumerated and they were done. We did it through the people who are living in Bauchi, we even brought local contractors from the state so that they can benefit from the process but things are not going well.”
A worried Bala Mohammed said that, “I wonder where our Education Secretaries are, in the scheme of things. The rate of attrition of teachers and schools is unbelievable.”
According to him, “The numbers are showing high number of teachers but in reality, it is just one or two teachers, we only find volunteers. Something must be wrong with SUBEB and our system.”
“And, the World Bank and UNICEF as well as other development partners are assisting us to develop the Sector, but no positive results. We are regularly paying our counterpart grants. Just in 2022, we spent N3b but I can’t see what we have done with such an amount, we spent N5b and N9b yet the schools are left like that. Definitely, something is wrong with the system,” he stressed.
The Governor added that “Somebody is there or some people, sabotaging us. Today is not a tea party, I am not happy, before we declare state of emergency on education, we have to declare state of emergency on ourselves. We are not doing well, we are just pretending, all of us, stakeholders.”
Bala Mohammed added, “I am not here to make money but I am here to make a difference. I went to an LEA School, Government Secondary school, Government university and I am competing comfortably with my colleagues from across the world. What are we creating a legacy to our future generations.”
He then directed that “We are returning the SUBEB to the supervision of the Ministry of Education. It is no longer going to be reporting to me through the SSG and they must use our LGEAs in the LGAs, it is a partnership.”
He further directed that, “Nobody should come to me with a file if not through the system. You must develop technical capacity for supervision. A situation whereby I see some buildings as if no supervision is being done is not acceptable. The situation where some schools are unenumerated for renovation is no longer acceptable.”
According to the Governor, “We know the numbers, some places where you are supposed to have large number of classes, you don’t have it. We must just try to strike a balance Even some of the schools we renovated or built, are not good enough.”
Bala then declared that he would not hesitate to shove away anyone no matter his/her status in government who is believed to be working against the success of his administration in improving the quality and standard of education.
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