By Chiangi Avese, Makurdi
The near collapsed educational system in Benue State has received more than a life line under the Governor Alia led government following massive investments and placement on the first-line charge of the education sector.
Governor Alia spoke of his initiated and successful action enabled by part of palliatives for the removal of fuel subsidy in the first instance, and an uncommon attention given the sector in the past one year of his administration in the state at the Democracy Day celebration held at IBB Square on Wednesday in Makurdi.
“My administration paid for the 2023/2024 examination fees of all students in government approved public secondary schools in the state sitting for the West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) examinations, respectively”.
Gov. Alia said the success story at the Benue State University where the administration has facilitated expansion of academic programmes, established new faculties, restored scholarships for medical students, and paid outstanding salary arrears, have upgraded the ICT facilities preparing over 10,000 youths for the global market. The idea is to train over 60,000 youths.
“As a proof of our zeal towards re-writing the narrative of the education sector in Benue State, we allocated 15% of the 2024 budget to education, surpassing the 7% at the Federal level. We have also trained over 150 headteachers, and distributed over 100,000 instructional materials across public schools in the state to enhance teaching and learning.
This is coupled with the establishment of the Benue State Education Quality Assurance Agency (BEQA), saddled with the responsibility of daily monitoring and evaluation of all schools across the State, with the aim of improving the standard and quality of education, as well as reawakening teachers and staff to their responsibilities”.
Gov. Alia said, “so far, the efforts have yielded huge results, notably being the recent clinching of an international debate trophy in Indonesia, by four Benue secondary school students who represented Nigeria”.
“Benue under my watch, has also weeded out thousands of ghost workers, ghost schools, and ghost agencies out of our payroll. We have gone further to cut off all leakages and conduits pipes of inefficient money consuming channels obtainable in the past”, Gov. Alia pointed out.
The governor emphatically said, “my administration has borrowed no dime since we came on board. And we shall only do so only when it becomes extremely necessary. Prudence in governance must know us and call us by name”.
Staff welfare under Governor Alia has greatly improved with prompt payment of salaries and pensions/gratuities, as well as arrears which the administration says is now a mainstay, and so shall it continue to be.
