From Khalid Idris Doya, Bauchi
The Bauchi State Government has refuted what it described as deliberate distortion of a media report on a recent statement by Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed on education.
According to a press release signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Hon. Usman Shehu Usman, on Wednesday, some media deliberately distorted their report on the recent hosting of some youths by the Governor.
Governor Bala Mohammed had while addressing the youths, admonished them to possess skills, and urged them to identify problems in their society and proffer meaningful solutions, saying that, doing these they stand a chance to fight poverty, unemployment and restiveness.
The commissioner gave the distortion of the statement credited to the governor that he rubbished Western education while encouraging the youth to venture into the driving profession.
Usman queried “From the common sense this is an evidence that it is a calculated attempt to pitch Governor Bala Mohammed against the good people of Bauchi state and project him in bad light in the minds of no reasonable minds”.
“For the clearance of doubt, His Excellency, the Governor has never rubbished western education. For the fact that himself comes from a family that not only appreciated western education but also took stake in promoting it looking at the background of his father as a famous headmaster during his time”.
Hon. Usman Usman explained that the Governor was passionate about education, saying his huge investment in the sector is convincing, as ideally, education is among his transformative agenda.
“The key message as emphasized by His Excellency at that occasion was encouragement to the youth not only to fall arms while pursuing education as that is not enough in today’s world, instead, they should strive to learn various skills to augment their education”.
He recalled that the Governor on his inauguration day in 2019, deeply emphasized his administration’s desire to accord deserving priority and passion towards educating the children of the state, as he instantly declared a state of emergency in three key sectors –including education.
“Bauchi state consistently voted the lion share of the state budget to education above the UNESCO benchmark. Not only that, his administration has constructed, reconstructed and rehabilitated over 5,000 blocks of classrooms.
“We shouldn’t have stooped so low to respond to these inconsequential and baseless claims against the governor who has spent over N17 billion in the sector. A governor, whose administration has consistently shouldering payment of WAEC, NECO and JAMB”.
The commissioner further stated it is public knowledge that the Kauran Daular Usmaniyya-led government has increased scholarship payments to about a billion, which is in the region of N945 million.
