Senator Scores Niger Education Sector Low

Laleye Dipo in Minna

Senator David Umaru has expressed disappointment with the Niger State education sector, saying that “it is in a deplorable condition needing urgent intervention.”

Umaru, who represents Niger East Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, said the situation “is so bad that pupils and students receive instructions in dilapidated buildings,”just as he submitted that virtually all the schools in the state especially those in the rural areas lack instructional materials.

Umaru, who spoke to journalists in Minna on Monday, said because of the poor stateof schools, especially in rural areas, pupils no longer go to schools making the available infrastructure to be habited by animals and over grown with weeds.
“From what I have discovered so far the education sector is in a very deplorable condition I feel very sad, I wonder what our future will be like if government does not put a lot of efforts in this regard.
“There are schools in a lot of areas that I have visited that there are no teachers, they have not been going to schools in the last 10 years, the buildings are there but there are no teachers.”
He added that the affected areas are in the “hinterland”, adding that as a legislator he had designed a programme that would solve part of the problems in the education sector.
Umaru said part of the programme was the training of325 students on how to sit for Computer Based Tests CBT a scheme he said had consumed over N14m including the establishment of an ICT centre in Minna for indigent students..
In addition, the federal lawmaker disclosed that the David Umaru Foundation would award automatic scholarship to all the students from his constituency who gained admission into tertiary institutions anywhere in the country, adding that he would also pay NECO or WAEC fees for indigent students in his constituency.

He also disclosed that he had secured approval for the establishment of WAEC examination centre for private candidates at SabonWuse and IjahGwari in TafaLocal Government Area as part of his educational incentives for private students that are enthusiastic about enhancing their educational career.

Vowing that education would continue to be the major focus of his intervention as a legislator,Umaru admonished the well-to-do in the society not to leave the funding of the sector to the government alone because the resources of the government are limited with a lot of demands.

He also challenged youths to take their future in their hands by acquiring western education which he said would prepare them adequately for the demands of life.