Bauchi governor blows hot, yet his administration scores poorly in education.

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has lamented the growth in the number of out-of-school children in the state as well as the degradation in basic education standards.

The governor, who claimed that his administration had failed the people of the state in terms of educational development, chastised the management of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) as well as the Secretaries of the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) for sabotaging his efforts to develop the sector better than his administration had done in 2019.

Bala was addressing at the start of a meeting of Education Sector Stakeholders on Monday at the Banquet Hall of the Government House, which included SUBEB management, the Ministry of Education, LGEA Secretaries, and LGA Caretaker Chairmen.

“I was thinking loudly when I discussed with a few Commissioners; Education, Local Government Affairs, and the Chief of Staff that we need to focus on education because my attention was drawn to some areas where, completely, SUBEB is doing nothing after spending so many years there and bragging that we have renovated over 5,000 classrooms.”

“There are Mega Schools that have been left untouched, unenumerated, and unaccessed; the Agency has not even proposed them for renovation.” “I believe the quality of our work is not something to be proud of because I have personally visited those schools and the roofs are either leaking or blown off,” he stated.

Bala Mohammed went on to complain to the officials present, saying, “The quality of supervision by SUBEB is appalling, so you have the opportunity to change.” I did my best, but there is no monitoring, no quality control, and it has been business as usual.

“I am deeply disappointed with all managers in the sector, beginning with my humble self, the SSG in charge of SUBEB, the Ministry of Education, and the LGAs.” We have not fared well in that area.

“You’re not doing anything; you’re just providing eye service and making money.” That’s it, and I’m not going to let this go on. No, it must not go on. In Dumi, a few kilometres away, an old school, older than some of Bauchi’s cities, with roughly 20 classes has been abandoned. “Our students are sitting on the mats, and all of the roofs have been blown off,” he added.

“It’s a shame that one of Bauchi’s local government chairmen is from that area.” The same thing happened to me in my neighbourhood when I went on an evening visit, and even here in Yelwa, schools were left abandoned as if we hadn’t started anything. I’m not sure what you mean.

“There was a time when I gave you a marching order to list all of these schools, and you did it.” We did it with the help of Bauchi residents. We even invited in state contractors to benefit from the process, but things aren’t going so well.”

“I wonder where our Education Secretaries are in the scheme of things,” the irritated governor continued. The amount of teacher and school attrition is astounding.

“The numbers show a large number of teachers, but in reality, there are only one or two teachers.” We solely recruit volunteers. SUBEB and our system must be malfunctioning.

“The World Bank, UNICEF, and other development partners are assisting us in developing the sector, but there have been no positive results.” We pay our counterpart grants on a regular basis. We spent N3 billion in 2022, but I don’t see what we did with that money; we spent N5 billion and N9 billion, but the schools are still in disrepair. Something is definitely amiss with the system.”

“Someone there or some people are sabotaging us,” the Governor stated. Today is not a tea party, and I am not pleased. Before we proclaim a state of emergency in education, we must declare one in ourselves. We’re not doing well, and all of us – stakeholders – are just pretending.

“I’m not here for the money; I’m here to make a difference.” I attended a LEA school, a government secondary school, and a government university, and I am able to compete with colleagues from all around the world. What kind of legacy are we leaving for future generations?

“We are returning the SUBEB to the Ministry of Education’s supervision.” It will no longer report to me through the SSG, and they must use our LGEAs in the LGAs; it is a collaboration.”

“Nobody should come to me with a file that was not obtained through the system.” You must build technical supervisory skills. It is not acceptable for me to observe such buildings as though no supervision is being performed. It is no longer acceptable to have some schools underutilised for restoration.

“We know the numbers; some places where you should have a large number of classes don’t have them.” We must strive for equilibrium. Even some of the schools we refurbished or built are inadequate.”

Governor Mohammed concluded his remarks by stating that he would not hesitate to fire anyone, regardless of position in government, who is thought to be working against his administration’s achievement in raising the quality and standard of education in the state.