From Melvin Uche, Maiduguri
About 1,845 out- of -school children have been admitted in primary, junior and senior secondary schools in Monguno on the first day of grassroots sensitization and mobilization works by a high-powered committee, set by Borno Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum.
The governor had in his effort to accelerate school enrolment especially in northern Borno, where there is gross out -of -school numbers, inaugurated a Committee with mandate to go round the state and sensitize parents to enrol their wards in schools.
After its inauguration back in November, the committee begun work on friday, starting with Monguno town in the Northern part of Borno state.
The committee had on arriving Monguno started its activities with a stakeholders meeting ,where the Chairman of the committee, Prof. Isa Hussain Marte who is also the Chief of Staff to the Borno Governor, briefed the stakeholders on their mission and thereafter had a fruitful interactive discussions with them.
On Saturday, before commencing the enrollment process, the committee inspected some of the existing primary, junior and senior secondary schools in the town to ascertain the true condition of all the exiting facilities.
At the Monguno Central primary school which is the venue of enrollment programme, Prof. Marte addressed parents and pupils who turned out enmass and thank the Local stakeholders for mobilizing the people despite the short notice.
Prof. Marte assured stakeholders and parents that government would provide all the incentives required to keep the pupils in school.
The Chairman of Monguno local government Council, Alhaji Kyari Ibrahim commeded the courage and patriotism of the governor for initiating the move and thanked members of the committee for making sacrifice to visit Monguno which is considered one of the hard to reach.
An elder in the town, Alhaji Kalla Maina who is also APC State Deputy Chairman, thanked Gov. Zulum for his vision and foresight towards reviving the educational sector in the state and called on the people to support the Governor and offer prayer for him.
The District Head of Bida, Alhaji Zannah Kaumi Mustapha commended Governor Zulum for providing visionary leadership and called on him to construct more schools in the town.
Alhaji Mustapha Gambo, Chairman School Base Management Committee of Central primary school and at the same time the PTA Chairman of Monguno local government area, commended Zulum for reopening schools in the town after 3 years of closure and called on him to provide them with school buses to ease transportation problem and in return motivate pupils.
In their separate remarks, Bako Alhaji Yusuf and Kachallah Alhaji Bukar who both brought their children for enrollment, prayed and thanked Zulum and the members of the committee for providing them with the opportunity to educate their children free of charge.
The State Advisor on Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), Alhaji Abba Kura Mariu commended the parents for coming out massively to enroll their wards and assured them that the government under the BESDA programme is poised to reduce out -of -school children and improve literacy and numeracy in the state.
Also, the committee had an interactive session with retired teachers in the local government with the view to engaging some of them
The committee had after concluding their assignment for the day visited the Commander of Sector 3, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. S.I Igbinomwanhia to create synergy and collaboration between the military and the committee to ensure success of the programme.
On his part, the Commander appreciated the members of the Committee for their visit and assured them the Army is going to work and cooperate with local government and the committee to ensure success of the programme.
Other members of the Committee are Hon. Bello Ayuba, Commissioner of Education, Dr. Babagana Mallumbe ,Hon. commissioner Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Shettima Kullima ,Chairman (BOSUBEB), Prof. Suleiman Bello, Executive Chairman TSB, Maina Yaumi, Executive Secretary ETF and other education stakeholders.
