Education tops priority list for Gov. Lawal, initiates ‘Smart Agenda’ with distribution of teaching materials

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has described education as the foundation of civilization explaining why it is top priority in the Six Smart Agenda programme of his administration.

Lawal spoke on Wednesday at the flag off distribution of teaching and learning materials to 250 public primary and junior secondary schools throughout the state.

The items being distributed are 242,176 textbooks for different grades, 200 play materials for Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE), 25 ECCDE tables and chairs, 8,210 library materials and 35 Nigeria Learning Passport (NLP) resources for UNICEF-focus schools as well as solar power equipment.

A statement by the Governor’s spokesperson, Sulaiman Bala Idris, said that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and UNICEF provided the materials.

The Governor who also described Zamfara as one of the educationally disadvantaged states in Nigeria, noted that the area requires support and engagement from national and international partners to advance its education level.

He said: “I am delighted to be at this significant event of distributing reading materials to students in our basic education subsector. This gesture is one of the many interventions from which Zamfara State benefits.

“We are overhauling 60 secondary schools across the state under the World Bank Assisted Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA).

“Each Local Government Area has six secondary schools undergoing renovation while the state capital, Gusau, has eight. The education emergency declared in the state is not limited to only basic and secondary education but also tertiary-level education. Provision of new facilities and rehabilitation of old ones are ongoing in all tertiary institutions across the state.

“Today’s event is a step in the right direction at the right time. It complements our efforts to provide Zamfara with qualitative and equitable education to liberate our people from ignorance and poverty.

“The UNICEF’s noble objectives of promoting literacy and educational opportunities for students and learners in the Nigeria Learning Passport initiative, aimed at facilitating learning both within and outside the classrooms, are commendable”

Furthermore, the Governor outlined measures his government has taken to settle the backlog of WAEC and NECO debts owed by previous administrations in the state.

“We are reviving education at all levels to give meaning to the lives of our young people,” he said. “Our students have resumed writing both WAEC and NECO examinations like their counterparts across the country, leading to timely result releases.

“We have negotiated with the examination bodies and begun settlement of liabilities inherited due to the failure of the past regimes to meet this basic requirement,” the Governor said.