Education, health, agriculture, top Tambuwal’s priority

Education, health and agriculture will be given priority by the Sokoto State governor in the next four years.

The state governor, Aminu Tambuwal who was sworn into office for the second term, said the government recorded improvement in these sectors in the last four years.

The administration had declared state of emergency on education during the first tenure, and the governor said there were far reaching successes especially in the provision of new infrastructure and facilities.

“We have also complemented that with the marked improvement in the capacity and welfare of teachers and improved supervision of the school system, especially at basic and secondary levels.

“We have recorded a rapid rise in enrollment figures in primary schools as a result of a passionate drive, which entails the active involvement of communities and all stakeholders in the form of Schools Based Management Committees,” Tambuwal added.

He disclosed that the state government has enacted the Right to Education Law aimed at propelling enrollment, retention and completion at the basic level of education.

According to him, the state Female Education Board has been established with a view to improving girl-child education.

“This is currently being championed through Girls Education, Cash Transfer and Scholarship at the basic and tertiary levels.

“The Sultan’s Consultative Committee on Education is also sensitizing our communities as well as constructing ECCD integrated Schools and Junior Secondary Schools in order to widen access and acceptability of western education.

“The foregoing achievements especially at the Basic level have culminated in reducing out of school children as attested to by the UNICEF.
“Similarly, in this sector is the settlement of inherited backlog of scholarship fees in local and foreign institutions of learning and the sponsorship of many more for foreign courses in specialized fields especially in medicine and related courses, in which our state is relatively lacking,” the governor stated.

He assured that the state government would continue with teachers’ recruitment drive and the settlement of WAEC and NECO fees for the students, noting that there would be the availability of the necessary infrastructure in the state’s tertiary institutions.

On the health sector, Governor Tambuwal said success was recorded in the provision of healthcare to the people through the upgrading, renovation and re-equipping of health centres across all local governments.

The policy initiatives, the governor noted, included the establishment of the contributory healthcare scheme aimed at putting healthcare in the ownership of communities especially the low income earners.

“The bolstering of the Malaria Control Agency, to curtail the spread the malaria, pandemic, which is more dangerous than HIV/AIDS, our administration has strengthened the Malaria Control Agency.

“Dividends of these programmes are manifest in the positive changes being witnessed in the health indices of our dear state.

“These include the increase in immunization target, which drastically reduced the occurrence of child killer diseases among our people,” he said.

He promised that the administration would sustain this in the second term, and improve on the training of various categories of health personnel.

The governor noted that agriculture is the mainstay of the state’s economy, adding that the state was blessed with vast arable land, good climatic condition suitable for all year- round farming in addition to the advantage of a strong productive population.

“As a mark of our commitment in this regard, we have completed the college of Agriculture, Wurno that was inherited from the last administration, sustained the procurement and distribution of fertilizer, farm implements and improved seeds, pesticides and other essential requirements by farmers to ensure we give the necessary support that will yield a positive result in food production.

“Only recently we took delivery of a herd of one hundred and seventeen cattle from South Africa for the smooth take-off of the Sokoto Dairy Project.

“We have equally forged strong collaboration with members of the business community, both at local and international level to explore the possibility of joint ventures investments in several argic-based business,” he added.

He thanked the people of Sokoto State for the trust reposed on them, assuring that they would deliver on their campaign promises.