Senator Uba Sani: Consolidating educational renaissance in Kaduna state

Education goes far beyond learning how to read and write. It is the process of acquiring skills, principles and ambition to achieve personal success and by extension, societal impact. It is seen as the prime factor for development in every society. According to Governor Nasir El-Rufai, “Education is a lever for social mobility, enabling people to rise above the circumstances of their birth and providing a basis for building a meritocratic society”.


The educational sector in Kaduna has suffered significant challenges over the years. The students have had to endure poorly trained teachers, destitute facilities, insufficient learning supplies and the growing threat of insecurity in the state. The situation has badly influenced students’ academic performance and their overall attitude towards academic activities.


However, the indomitable governor has made huge strides in his mission to reform the educational sector. Though some of his efforts have been criticised harshly in the media, no one can argue with the results achieved by the Governor’s decisive thinking. By the start of 2017, the state government had spent N6 billion on the rehabilitation of almost 500 schools. Later that same year, the administration went beyond physical infrastructure and started the
recruitment of over 25,000 teachers following the over 21,000 who were sacked as a result of failing a competency test conducted by the state’s Universal Basic Education Board.

The Kaduna State government approved free education for primary and secondary school students in the state, and additionally distributed free school uniforms and learning materials to pupils under the World Bank-assisted Better Education Service Delivery For All Programme (BESDA).


Many more investments into the educational sector have been made by the Nasir El-Rufai administration which has led to a renaissance of sorts in the educational sector in Kaduna state. With his second term in office coming to an end, Kaduna State searches for a new governor who will usher in brilliant and innovative ideas while also continuing and maintaining the projects executed by Governor El-Rufai during his time in office.


Senator Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress emerged as the party’s Gubernatorial candidate in a landslide victory at the primaries. The Senator has had a laudable term in the upper chamber of the National House of Assembly. He is famous for being the only sitting Senator in Nigeria who has had two of his sponsored bills passed into law; with many others still at different stages of legislation including the Federal College of Education Giwa, Kaduna State Bill of 2019 and the Institute of Information and Communication Technology Kaduna South Bill, 2020 which was sponsored with the aim of improving the standard of education in
Kaduna State in the ICT sector, as well as place Northern Nigeria in a position to take full advantage of globalization and the emerging digital economy.


The Senator has also executed a number of projects in response to the cries of his constituents about the deplorable state of educational facilities. He has attracted one of the largest Federal Government intervention projects within any state institution across Nigeria, the N3.5 billion construction of the Faculty of Engineering at Kaduna State University’s permanent site at Rigachikun in Igabi Local Government Area. As an Engineer himself, this project is very close to his heart and he hopes that it shall be deployed to train the next generation of professionals in Kaduna state.


In addition to the construction of a 110-bed space capacity hostel at Dr Shehu Lawal Giwa Government Girls Secondary School, Giwa Local Government, Senator Uba Sani has also facilitated the construction and equipment of several ICT, skill acquisition and sport centres in many schools across the State.


Still on education, Senator Sani through his foundation, has been paying JAMB registration fees for thousands of students in the State, especially those of them from his immediate constituency of Kaduna Central. The foundation has also reached out to schools within the communities through counselling, career guidance and distribution of educational materials to students.


If elected, he sincerely wishes for his administration to also pay attention to infrastructure and equipment in all
public schools in Kaduna and is passionate about improving the quality of teachers employed in the teaching service of Kaduna State, ensuring consistent growth in the enrolment figure in public primary and secondary schools, sustaining the school feeding programme in our public primary schools, providing access to educational loans for indigenes of Kaduna State in tertiary institutions both in the country and schools outside the country and sustaining the scholarship scheme already introduced by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.


Understanding the importance of vocational training in contemporary times, he has resolved to bolster all state- owned vocational training centres currently in existence in all parts of the State by establishing, building and equipping more multi-purpose vocational training centres in designated locations in all the Local Government Areas.


Senator Sani promises is hoping to consolidate the remarkable record of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai in the area of education if chosen by the great people of Kaduna to occupy the state’s top executive office.

Isa Abdullahi wrote in from Kaduna