Month: July 2022

By Salisu Yusuf

Musa Abubakar, 29, was born a full-sighted child in Daura, Katsina State. He came from a low-income family, though his mother teaches at a primary school. Her job helps her support a family that lost their breadwinner 18 years ago.

At 9, Musa started feeling some discomfort and strain in his eyes. When his mother took him to a hospital, he was diagnosed with “retinitis pigmentosa,” a rare inherited degenerative eye disease. Initially, he witnessed vision decrease and impairment, especially at night or in low light. While Musa went through this predicament, his father was bedridden with a terminal illness. So, he was loaded with the dice at a tender age.

At 11, he lost his father and, later, his sight. Life had taken its toll on him as he grappled with going to school, looking for a guide and contending with walking with a blind cane. Musa felt lonely, isolated and disillusioned; he needed a company that proved elusive. Sometimes he would want somebody beside him with a gentle nudge, but nobody was around to whom he could unburden and escape from his loneliness. So he started meditating on an escape route.

Later, Musa discovered that education was the only antidote against loneliness, boredom and disillusionment. So he went back to school. In the beginning, his classmates served as his guides. However, social stigma forced him to opt for a blind cane as his guides were insulted or maligned daily. Whenever he reached class, his classmates would take notes and dictate to him. His mother had attested to his precocious talent; he demonstrated extra guile and quick-wittedness during his childhood.

After his primary education, he also joined another conventional junior school, obtaining a junior school certificate with flying colours. His potential was realised when in 2015, he joined Katsina School for the Blind. He learned how to use his “embosser typewriter” to take braille (a form of written language for the blinds, in which the characters are represented by raised dots that are felt with the fingertips). He also learned to use his emboser printer to convert conventional texts into braille for easy manual reading. He artfully mastered the skill of manual reading. Whenever I visit him, I am bewitched by the power, beauty and manual dexterity of his tactile reading. 

Musa Abubakar completed his ABU diploma in English Education at the College of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Daura, with a merit pass in 2020. 

His academic activities were wonderfully exceptional; he didn’t only surpass many full-sighted coursemates, but he mastered a good command of English during class presentations.

While studying for his diploma, Musa proved exceptional and combined conventional and unique learning methods. He used the braille writer to take notes, a recorder to record the lecturer’s voice,  and would later use the braille printer to write his notes and unorthodoxly use the braille writer to convert longer texts into braille for easy manual decoding. 

Musa is currently a 200-level undergraduate of English at an NTI degree satellite centre in Daura. He weaves baskets and local chairs to earn his daily bread and support his education. He can teach and perfectly write on the board. He can also assess his students by converting their works into his embosser and grading them. He’s also computer literate. 

Katsina State Government should not leave this talented blind man to waste. Instead, he should be employed so that his intellectual treasures are explored. His likes shouldn’t be left to beg. They should, like his braille, be converted to help the human cause. 

Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Federal Government College Kwali-Abuja has been shutdown after midnight attacks on the neighbouring Sheda community.

Gunmen, suspected to be bandits, attacked Sheda community on the night of Saturday June 23, 2022. According to locals, there were gunshots which lasted almost an hour and a resident was kidnapped.

Following the attack on Sheda, a community that shares the same border with the college, the school management has informed parents to pick their children from the school.

A senior staff of the college who spoke to the Daily Reality on ground of anonymity said:

“The management has gotten the approval of the Ministry of Education for parents to pick their children from the school pending when their safety can be guaranteed”.

The incident has prevented the students of the institution from completing their third term examinations, which supposed to come to an end on Tuesday.

By Lawi Auwal Yusuf

The unfortunate attack on the advance team ahead of President Buhari’s visit to his hometown, Dura, Katsina State, made the day of so many people. Indeed, it’s unarguable that, initially, the administration commanded deep respect. It was the most liked, revered and popular in this country’s history. But, of course, today, it’s the most loathed, and people solemnly disown it with an excessive feeling of hate. What stimulated such offensive aversion and malice? Why did this esteem veneration turn a disgust overnight? What made such immense support go swiftly on the wane? These are questions we need to ask ourselves.

For over a decade, people gave their lives, wealth and resources for the success of the assumed emancipator to wipe out the woes and salvage the country that came within the whisker of a failed nation come rain, come shine. People expected the saviour to be whiter than white, demonstrate ingenuity and were very optimistic that he would make life far better off than in the previous regimes. Instead, failure to create a framework for his success led to an embarrassing fallacy change, contrarily making life worst off. Moreover, forging policies behind the times really ravaged people’s lives, making the poor poorer.

Unfortunately, things went downhill after taking over the big office; life became an epic struggle for the masses to earn a living at a push. The economy is flat on its back, while markets are dead. We also witness a significant rise in unemployment, inflation, heinous crimes and terrorism. The security forces were overwhelmed and couldn’t check the horrific security threats, lest dancing to the tune of politicians and remain only specialised in molesting those that come out against the status quo or political opponents.

Moreover, to add insult to injury, tertiary institutions were closed for almost a year, whereas no society can develop unless its citizens are well educated. Regrettably, the country descends deeper into crisis. Hence, no one enjoys life at the moment, and hopes of a better life have faded.

As a result, the administration fell flat on its face, fell from favour due to corruption and mismanagement, disappointing even the most loyalist cohorts. They should have taken the great expectations, faithful confidence, and trust reposed on them seriously, not an indifferent attitude.

However, taking a leaf from the books of other dynamic leaders who made history was a good idea. They should have picked the brains of successful personalities like Lincoln, Mandela, Lee or Mao. But instead, they show a great zest for life, spend public funds like water, engage in swanky trips that break the bank and award lavish contracts for self-enrichment and kinsmen. Indeed, the damage done in those few years will surely take decades to repair. Today, people are not out of the woods yet and have realised that the wolf in sheep’s clothing and the past malignant regimes are but six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Not realising the long-lost potential of this nation and forging a global superpower blew their best chances of becoming great leaders without equality. This consequently irritates people and turns their back on them for achieving nothing important. It is so vexing that they cannot be courteous enough to return such favour, going down in history as the worst actors.

This abnegation has shown that people are in hot water. They are on the wrong side of the people and have pushed them too far. They are in their bad books for stabbing them in the back and no longer run the country’s affairs with their consent. However, it manifested the frustration, anxieties and disparagement that depict the lives of the citizens of this dystopian country. Thus, they are worn out of the cruelty and no longer anticipate any help. They are only anxious to survive to the end of this hardship.

As they are still blind to their faults, they will soon realise the error of their ways when given the push come 2023. The future of the party hangs in the balance, while history will always show them in an unfavourable light. However, we will never despair because we honestly believe that where there is life, there is hope.

Lawi Auwal Yusuf wrote from Kano, Nigeria. He can be reached via laymaikanawa@gmail.com.

Usama Abdullah

Following the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) announcement of this year’s cut-off mark for joining Nigerian public universities, many people have taken to various media to poke fun at the board as well as disparage the entire country for the continued decay in its education sector.

Obviously, what informed the board to reduce the cut-off mark to a minimum of 140 is the terrible performance of the students in the University and Tertiary Education Matriculation Examination this year.

Even though the reduction calls for sympathy for the nation, those commentators have gotten it wrong by deriding the board and gloating over the students’ poor performance. 

We cannot get it right when we only decide to laugh off this dysfunctional system. We are clearly, experiencing the outcome of an embarrassing failure in our education sector, and this will take us a long time before recovering.

Some people believe that students nowadays don’t read hard. And that they usually “cheat” their way to tertiary institutions. This could be true to a certain extent, and I agree with them. However, I also agree that the teachers are also quite blameworthy. 

It would be a grave injustice to attribute the failures of the students to their teachers. But there’s a point we all must consider before leaping to conclude that the blame lies with the students alone.

Like I have said earlier, students may have been faring below the expectations of their parents and teachers today, thanks to the advent of TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook Reel, among other online and offline distractions.

Yet the parents and teachers are partly the causes of such poor performances. The reason is that some teachers don’t deserve to teach because they are either not properly trained or unfit for the teaching profession.

Many of them lack teaching methods. While some of them just got themselves into the profession accidentally. You often hear of accidental teachers; we happen to be in large number at our public and some private schools.

No thanks to our politicians who have fouled up the recruitment system. This kind of teachers don’t teach to transform the students, but to get the chicken feed they usually take home as salaries.

When you go to those schools in which those unqualified teachers work, you will find them wearing fancy clothes and flaunting expensive phones in front of their students, and that nonchalance promotes unlawful student-teacher relationships.

Unknowingly, such a prodigal and nasty attitude help compromise the young impressionable students. The problem associated with this is that the students would be seen emulating what they saw those teachers doing. Within the blink of an eye, the students would be wild and tough to tame. 

On the other hand, many parents seem to exhibit a kind of devil-may-care attitude toward the upbringing of their children.

They mollycoddle their children to the extent that they begin to forgive and forget all that the children do, be it good or bad.

Well, this type of parental neglect is another major cause of the backwardness of the children at school and in society. Because when they get home, the parents won’t care to ask them about their studies, nor find out how they’re really performing.

When some parents are invited to PTA meetings to discuss important things and chart the way out to help improve their children’s educational standards, they barely attend or give out frivolous excuses for their irresponsibility.

These are the things parents need to correct in order to prevent their children from descending so low or getting petty scores in their results. 

In the same vein, the government too contribute hugely to the retrogradation of our education sector. It’s sad and painful that we’re cruelly ruled by people who are apparently unconcerned about what has become of the nation.

The leaders are only good at forcing half-baked policies on the regular citizens, which will only favour them and their families. 

Looking at the precarious state of our public educational institutions and the prolonged but unresolved ASUU-FG debacle, you will understand that the government is doing nothing to refine our rotten education sector.

Instead of making noise or taunting the students for their low performances, we should assist in our own little ways and hope for the best.

Usama Abdullahi writes from Abuja. He can be reached at usamagayyi@gmail.com.

By Lawan Bukar Maigana

The emergence of Senator Kashim Shettima as the running mate to the All Progressives Congress  (APC) presidential aspirant, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, has continued to generate reactions from all corners of Nigeria.  

Most worrisome is the puerile attempt by some ill-intentioned social media influencers to link the former governor of Borno State to Boko Haram terrorism.

What could have influenced the attempt to link Shettima with Boko Haram?

While the paid and unpaid agents behind this vile propaganda have not provided any evidence to link the Senator to terrorism, it is necessary to examine some facts from the apparent fallacies of the opposition and separate the wheat from the chaff.

For instance, while travelling to Gamboru Ngala for a rally ahead of the 2019 presidential and National Assembly elections, Shettima’s convoy was attacked by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) members and three of his loyalists were killed. Many others sustained various degrees of injuries.

Characteristically, ISWAP claimed responsibility for the attack the following day. However, the then Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau, confirmed the identities of the deceased, including a brave soldier and two staunch politicians.

According to Gusau, the attack aimed to attract global media attention to sustain the terrorists’ agenda of instilling fear in citizens and reducing the morale of the gallant troops.

The leader of the Boko Haram terrorists, Abubakar Shekau, who was later killed in an alleged suicide bombing, had threatened Shettima and top government officials in a 56-minute video where he ordered his members and foot-soldiers to kill them wherever and whenever they found them. Could Shettima have a link with Boko Haram, yet he would be the number one on their hit list?

In the video, Shekau boasted as follows: “You, former governor Kashim [Shettima], you present governor [Babagana] Zulum, listen – do not be deceived by your walking without shoes – be careful! If you sing these things we mentioned [Nigeria’s national anthem, national pledge, and the NYSC anthem], you are a disbeliever even if you recite them jokingly.”

It was not surprising that Shettima and Zulum were mentioned in the video because both personalities have consistently spoken against the evil of Boko Haram and worked assiduously with security agents and other stakeholders to decimate them. They have also been supporting Internally  Displaced Persons (IDPs) to recover from the damage the terrorists had done in their lives and relocate them to their respective, original communities.

It should also be noted that Shettima didn’t just stop at appealing to the Federal Government to intensify efforts aimed at eradicating terrorism. He committed enormous resources to support the military with security equipment and dozens of vehicles to ease mobility during operations. Is that a governor that has a link with Boko Haram terrorists?

Born and brought up in Maiduguri, I can authoritatively confirm that Shettima adequately funded the Volunteer Vigilante Youth Groups, popularly known as Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in 2013, who were later trained in counter-terrorism operations, to strengthen the fight against Boko Haram terrorists.

He also provided adequate welfare and logistic support to over 20,000 CJTFs to strengthen the fight against Boko Haram elements. The motivation enhanced the crucial role of CJTF in intelligence gathering, easy identification, and arrest of suspected insurgents, among others. Could Shettima have a link with Boko Haram fighters and yet fund their tormentors?

Before the expiration of Shettima’s tenure as governor of Borno State, he was relentlessly calling for the deployment of military personnel and equipment to curb the threat of the terrorist group in the Northeast.  Considering the cost of the war on terror, Shettima was among the few personalities who persuaded state governors of the necessity of approving the sum of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account for the counter-insurgency campaigns. He also defended the Federal Government’s plan to ensure the judicious utilization of the fund for the intended purpose.

Could Shettima have a connection with terrorists yet support counter-terrorism financing?

When Boko Haram terrorists destroyed churches in Borno, Shettima provided funds to reconstruct the places of worship and ensured adequate security protection of the areas.

In his testimony to this, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Borno Chapter, Bishop Mohammed Naga, said: “During Shettima’s visit to these areas, he released N100 million for the rebuilding of some of these churches. A committee was set up for that purpose. I was a member of the committee headed by a permanent secretary, Mr Justus Zare, as Chairman, and I am happy to inform you that presently we have used that money to rebuild 11 key churches which our people are now using. I am surprised to hear some people saying why don’t we rebuild all the churches. We cannot do that because there are many places that are still unsafe.”

Would church leaders praise Shettima if he had a link with Boko Haram fighters!?

In a nutshell, Shettima is neither an ethnocentric leader nor a religious bigot. On the contrary, he is a charismatic personality who believes in equity, justice, and fairness. Moreover, from his engagements and pronouncements, he has consistently advocated peaceful and harmonious relationships among different tribes and religions.

Therefore, it is unfair and unreasonable to link him with Boko Haram terrorism when he, in reality, has been their number one enemy and a prime target for years.

Lawan Bukar Maigana writes from Wuye District, Abuja. He can be reached via Lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com.

By Alkasim Harisu Alkasim

If you are eating like a horse, learn to eat like a bird because once in the abductors’ den, you will never gain enough to eat. Your thighs, hips, and cheeks will slenderise. Recently, nothing devastates me like the story of three abductees. Still, I was wondering how in this world a person would choose to win his living either by robbing, kidnapping, etc. and feel okay notwithstanding. This huge misfortune leaves me wallowing in confusion. 

The story opens with a taxi driver, a mother, and her daughter chartered to convey them to some place in Kaduna. The woman was also in the company of a young man, her close relative. The woman is a do-gooder because her trip was bound for a place populating the poor. She was travelling there to distribute goods and other gifts to the needy. But, alas! The goody-goody gesture of this fortysomething mother suffered the sabotage and heartlessness of a cruelty-ridden lad who also doubles as a relative. He has made his bed and must lie in it because he must reap what he has sowed when the authority arrests him.

The incident communicates a misfortunate and the truth we are no longer safe even in the fellowship of friendly people, our blood included. Society abounds with criminals starving and drowning in the urge to make megabucks. We are just between Scylla and Charybdis. Our desire to live beyond our means transforms our societies into hell. And all hell breaks loose when people choose to not live within their means. We want to cut ties with poverty by living a prostitute life. This is the path many youths have picked and chosen for themselves. 

One of the kidnap kingpins, to whom money means nothing, told the kidnapped driver that should he get a house to buy in the G.R.A, he would buy it no matter how expensive, provided the government would let him walk alone. That an abductor had such an intention demonstrates what a menace kidnap is. The kidnapper obviously envies the life his kidnappees will continue to enjoy once he releases them. This afforded him the idea of thieving out of the kidnapping den at the slightest opportunity. To hell with such a life of people abductors.

The kidnappers are exceptionally talented at weaponsmithing. They manufacture local double barrels that can gun down five people at a time should they vertically line up. When asked about the number of the kidnappers at the den, the driver-cum-abductee said, after swearing, that they amounted to a thousand. I am still reeling from the zinger of hearing this harrowing story. 

Rest assured, the desire to make beaucoup bucks overnight is the Newton apple pushing these low-IQ people into kidnapping. The kidnappers’ den is not a home away from home. But instead, a Jahannam on earth. The lust for money triggers kidnapping to catch fire in the North. Bitten by poverty, many youths choose to become repeat-offending abductors.

If their prey misbehaves, the abductors eat him for breakfast. Nobody can dream of getting a breakfastcupful of tea or milk in the morning, never mind chips or fried yam. When their hostages are hungry, these wrongdoers give them a small mango to lick and a bottle of water to share among the five or even more. There is always not enough to eat. When everybody is silent, nobody should break the silence. Otherwise, the kidnappers will break his balls. 

Certainly, kidnapping makes a song and dance about our wobbling social structure. What a prettily dilemmatic situation that destroys our social fabric! This menace is never a job in which one can make a name. The government should make an example of them to the teeming public when it arrests them. The police should feel their collar and take them to court for proper sentencing. Frankly, from the perspective of readiness and sufficiency, we are still in dire need of security agents. But, of course, we need enough sense to pound sand into the rathole. 

According to a victim, a few security personnel would underwhelm the outpouring number of the kidnappers because they are enough to choke a horse. The situation is enough to make the angels weep. Thus, the government should provide its people with enough security to avoid throwing them to the wolves. The kidnappers are armed to the teeth while the hostages are naked as the day one entered the world. These baddies have got screaming guns fit to wake the dead. 

The driver said there was a time when the kidnapppers narrowly escaped soldiers’ arrest, which compelled them to change den by forcing their victims to walk to a distant place on foot. In the kidnappers’ den, no one can stand on their two feet because horror looms. The den presents a panorama of difficulties. The kidnappers deny the hostages water as if they were drought-tolerant trees. The faculty of these people must not be intact due to their bestiality and inhumanity. The driver, who shares no blood with the woman and her daughter, established a kindred spirit with them. The trio began to bear the undertreatment they were suffering. 

The kidnappers cannot eat, wear, or sleep where they want. They are only trousering, potting and sacking money they cannot enjoy. They do their utmost to herd the kidnapped by being all eyes and ears with them. They do not give ear to anything unless it is relevant to their job. The kidnappers’ lair is where the sexy ladies cannot hussy up, nor can they keep themself to themself. It is where everybody contemplates escaping, and one can quickly get gunned down if they fail to fall to command.

It is also where the hostage is to eat out of the palm of his master’s hand. A place where no one should drive the kidnappers up the wall. A place where downpouring of torture is a common occurrence. A place where everybody is constantly at a loss for words. Maltreatment and suffering are the only hood of this hell on earth. These abductors rape female hostages in a very unacceptable way, even to women selling sex.

The driver said that he had absolutely lost hope in living when they were relocated to another hideout as the security agents nearly ambushed them. More so, in the early days of their kidnapping, the kidnappers swore to kill him and the daughter of the Hajiya on account of I.D cards they saw them carrying. The abductors mistook the cards for police I.D cards. The driver and the girl insisted that they were not police officers and that his card was a driving licence card and the girl’s was a school’s. They did not leave them alone until they asked one abductee to clarify the situation for them. Still, they partially agreed with the cards. 

To be continued.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said that they are aware of the strange illness that ravaged a secondary school in Delta State.

NCDC broke its long overdue silence in a Facebook post on Saturday, July 23, 2022.

The center said :”The NCDC is aware of an unknown illness reported among secondary school children in Delta State.

“We are in touch with the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Health Nigeria and Delta State Ministry of Health to investigate and respond accordingly.

We will communicate with Nigerians as the situation evolves.”

Ten students of the econdary school in were reportedly hospitalized over a seizure-like illness. One of the affected students has been reported dead since then.

The affected school has been shutdown indefinitely.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Report from Daily Nigerian has alleged that Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is planning to bring an atrocious leader of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Kolo Yusuf, as the state’s police commissioner.

He is said to be deployed to Kano to help the APC rig 2023 elections.

Barrister Audu Bulama Bukarti has affirmed this allegation in his tweet and recalling how Mr Kolo tortured and killed his client.

The Daily Nigerian newspaper went on to claiming that Dr Ganduje and Mr Kolo will meet this weekend to finalize the deal.

Recall that SARS was infamous for rights violations, torture, arbitrary murders, and suspicious incarceration up until its termination in October 2020 following widespread demonstrations, popularly known as the #EndSars protests.

Mr. Yusuf, who currently oversees Special Tactical Command, previously oversaw SARS in Kano, where he was charged with torturing individuals and perpetrating arbitrary deaths and detentions.

Similarly, another source who claimed for anonymity confirmed to journalists that the Kano governor had been assured that all would go well as all indications showed that the IGP had agreed to execute the plan.

In the 2019 election, the APC was alleged to have rigged the governorship election which saw Ganduje come back to power, after controversially defeating Abba Gida-Gida in an lection that would never be forgotten by Kwankwasiyya adherents.

By Tijjani Ahmad

Before banning the use of commercial motorcycles, popularly known as “Achaba”, most of us couldn’t imagine life in Kano without them. At that time, most Kano metropolis residents relied on Achaba as a means of local transport. 

The business of commercial motorcycles was booming and popular during that time, known for its lucrative nature, employment generation and ease of use to residents. 

Suddenly, the then governor of Kano State, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, announced the ban on 22 January 2013. The government explained that many crimes, particularly attacks on security operatives in the Northern Nigerian state, were carried out by men on motorcycles.

Even though there was no specific arrangement for the alternative means from the government’s side, the ban was effective and gave birth to the rise of the tricycle popularly known as “A-Daidaita Sahu”.

A Daidata Sahu was not new in Kano because it was first implemented by the then Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, in 2005 but was not popular because of Achaba. 

However, immediately after Achaba, investors started diverting their investment to A Daidaita Sahu. And residents accepted it since there were no alternative means of transport. It was reported that most of the Achaba riders also followed their investors and started trooping the streets of Kano.

For almost a decade, A Daidata Sahu has been found wanting in many offences, from criminal to civil. On that account, the government took many decisions to regulate the operation of commercial vehicles generally in Kano.

Unfortunately, the purpose of these decisions has been defeated by concentrating on the monetary aspect of most of the policies meant to curb insecurity and regulate motorists’ activities within the state.

Now, Kano State Government placed another ban on A Dadaita Sahu – restricting its operations at night, from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. The question is, how sure are we this will solve the problem of insecurity?

Kano, one of the largest cities in Africa – known for commerce, agriculture and industrialisation, is becoming more sophisticated as its population grows, new businesses emerge and naturally expand. Therefore, whatever policy we bring, we should consider the consequences on the populace, businesses and the environment. 

Despite these, it seems like proactive measures are not what we are interested in; we are instead scratching the surface. That’s why it is always quick banning, restrictions, curfew and many more reactive moves. 

If we are indeed serious, we don’t need to borrow money and install CCTV in the name of curving insecurity. All we have to do is regulate the activities of commercial vehicles within the state and block the leakages of revenue generated from their activities. This will go a long way in checking the crimes and improving the overall revenue of the state.

Three years ago, my friend, a key player in the industry, asked my opinion on whether the government should ban it due to insecurity.

I said this could be done through an effective and efficient database where all the players within the industry, from owners, riders, sellers and service providers, and warehouses. The data must be linked with BVN and NIN. To be part of the industry, you must comply with the requirements. 

By doing so, no motorcycle or any player within the industry should be seen on the street or within the city without registration. Furthermore, each person’s number or tracking ID should be placed on the bike and should correspond with what is in the database. So that whenever any player perpetrates a crime, all you have to do is to know the tracking number. 

This can be used to know the owner and the rider of the motorcycle used to commit that crime. My friend is trying to implement this within their company. Where all their riders can be tracked in real-time using GPD enable tracker. Thus, this is all we need: regulation, not reactive measures such as banning.

Tijjani Ahmad wrote from Kano via ahmatee123@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Aminu

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has settled outstanding fees for Kano State students undergoing postgraduate studies in universities in Cyprus and France.

The Governor has also awarded another N3m reward to a student, Suyidi Sani, for his sterling performance in the just concluded Young Nigerian Scientists Presidential Award.

Suyidi, an indigene of Nasarawa local government area of the state, emerged 7th and was the only northerner among the first 10 participants in the competition.

While presenting the money, Kano State Commissioner for Higher Education, Dr Mariya Mahmud Bunkure, said the student had gained admission to study at Bayero University Kano after scoring 303 in the Joint Matriculation Examination.

She said Kano State Government has assured that it will sponsor his postgraduate studies after completing his first degree programme.

She maintained that the state government is committed to uplifting the standard of education to global standards.

The commissioner for youths and sports, Alhaji Kabiru Ado Lakwaya, said the state government was committed to the development of education.

He added that the government had set up a committee to compile a comprehensive report on bursaries where millions of naira had been set aside to clear outstanding internal payments.

While receiving the cash, Suyidi Sani said he would continue to put more effort and do everything possible to be among the best students at Bayero University Kano.

He applauded Kano State Government, the entire state executive council, his parents and teachers for encouraging and supporting him.