Ex-Gov Babangida Aliyu: Why Education Standard is Falling in Northern Nigeria

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Former Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, has attributed the declining standard of education in the northern part of the country to “ the collapse of Grade 11 Teachers Colleges in Northern Nigeria”.

Aliyu also submitted that the collapse of Grade 11 Teachers Education “is also responsible for the setback in quality education in the region.”

The former governor made the observations when he received members of the Niger State Chapter of the National Board for Islamic Studies, led by its Desk Officer, Alhaji Sulaiman Jibrin, who paid him a courtesy visit in Minna.

Aliyu also advocated the introduction of free education up to secondary school level saying, “I made secondary education free during my tenure because education remains the greatest service to society”.

He also emphasized that Arabic and Islamic education should be embraced across religious and cultural boundaries in the country before advising the Board to strengthen its alignment with national examination bodies including JAMB and UTME, for the success of its programnes.

Ex-Governor Aliyu reaffirmed his support for initiatives aimed at promoting inclusive and integrated education in Niger State and   Northern Nigeria adding that stakeholders should take the education of their wards serious.

The Niger State Chapter of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBIAS) had paid a familiarization visit to a ex-Governor Aliyu, Talban Minna and Sardaunan Hausa, at his residence in Minna.

Earlier the State Desk Officer, Alhaji Sulaiman Jibrin, explained that NBIAS is a national body responsible for regulating Arabic and Islamic Studies education in Nigeria, with its roots linked to the era of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto.

Sulaiman Jibrin noted the Board conducts nationally recognized examinations comparable to those of WAEC and NECO, while also highlighting challenges such as limited examination centres and low candidate registration in the state.

Osun APC to NULGE: You Lack Authority to Dictate Conditions for Resumption to Your Employers, Council Chairmen

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the striking state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) under the chairmanship of Dr. Kehinde Nathaniel Ogungbangbe of being needlessly involved in partisan politics to the extent of becoming an extension of Governor Ademola Adeleke’s choice of political extraction.

A statement issued yesterday by Ogungbangbe indicated the willingness of his striking members to resume from their ten- month’ sympathy strike with Governor Adeleke, noting it was a welcome development as their hitherto choice of abandoning their jobs for that long was at their whims and caprices orchestrated by the governor.

The statement noted: “We are stating unequivocally that the leadership of the Osun State Chapter of the NULGE led by Ogungbangbe is asking for more than it can chew as it is beyond the scope of their official responsibilities to dictate the Council executives they could work with.

“When has the Osun State NULGE assumed the role of the courts to interpret and choose the judgement of the court to obey or not which has turned it to a grossly partisan and a meddlesome interloper in the estimation of the right-thinking members of society?

“Anyone with a hindsight does not need rocket science to suspect and conclude that the Osun NULGE under the pliable Ogungbangbe is a willing tool in the hands of Governor Adeleke and his cohorts in their eventual resolve to end their ten-month-old abandonment of their work places.”

“One thing that is disturbing is whether a medical doctor of the status of Ogungbangbe is not informed and lettered enough to know that the suit on the determination of the tenure of the APC reinstated chairmen and councillors is subsisting at the Federal High Court, Osogbo?

“It is also alarming that it is beyond the comprehension of Ogungbangbe to know that it is also for the determination of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, whether a lawful election can be held during the pendency of the tenure of the APC reinstated chairmen and councillors.

“We view the conditions rolled out by Ogungbangbe for the resumption announced as contemptuous, criminal, unacceptable, annoying, illegal and beyond their roles as public servants as they are unknown to the civil service procedures.

“It is unheard of for a tail to wag the dog as it is strange and preposterous for employees to be dictating the rules of engagement for his employers as the Osun State NULGE is doing with impunity through its tirade issued on their resolve to resume.

“There is no any other mission for Ogungbangbe to accomplish through the conditional statement of resumption if not to deliberately create chaos, pandemonium, crisis and violence which is capable of rocking the subsisting peace being enjoyed across all the local government council areas in the state under the APC reinstated chairmen and councilors.

“We should remind Ogungbangbe that the suit his section of NULGE instituted in the Osun State High Court to remove the APC Chairmen and Councilors is still pending in court and he cannot be the judge in his own cause. He should allow the court to do its job.

“The long and short of the Ogungbangbe controversial statement is an orchestrated ploy to aid the entities described as ‘Unknown parties’ in the recent landmark Supreme Court judgement to have an illegal entry to the local government council areas.

“We are putting the statutory security services like the Police, the Department of Security Service (DSS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), on notice to beef up their tentacles with a view to arresting and prosecuting whoever is planning to disturb the public peace in the various council areas under the guise of implementing the premeditated crises being planned by the NULGE.

“The security services should adequately protect some of the returnee NULGE staff whose mission to resume their duties is genuine without necessarily tying it to any obnoxious and illegal conditionalities.

“We count on the ability of the statutory security services to maintain peace and order in all the local government council areas and the Area Office in Modakeke in the interest of tranquility in the state.

“Should there be a breakdown of law and order based on the verifiably partisan posture of the leadership of the Osun NULGE to cunningly smuggle in the ‘unknown entities’ into the local government council areas, Ogungbangbe should be expressly held responsible for it.”