GOV INUWA YAHAYA TO READ RIOT ACT ON EDUCATION, THUMPS UP USAID AND AUN EDUCATION FUNDED PROJECT IN GOMBE STATE

Gombe state Governor,  Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has disclosed plans to establish Development Partners/ Donor Agencies Coordination Office as part of strategy to engender smooth working relationship between the government and development bodies.

He said a senior government functionary in the rank of a Special Adviser will be appointed to man the office to guarantee easy access and decision making.

The Governor disclosed this while playing a host to a  team of United States Agency  for International Development, USAID's  funded education project, tagged "Strenthening Education in Northeast" ( SENSE).

The SENSE project is a USAID funded project, in collaboration with the American University of Nigeria, AUN which is targeting Gombe and Adamawa states in the North East.

Alhaji Yahaya who reiterated that education remains a top priority of his administration,  lauded the initiative by USAID and AUN to support education and good governance.

While describing  SENSE's project intervention in Gombe state as timely, he vowed to ensure that its impact manifests within the targeted period.

He used the occasion to assure donor agencies operating in Gombe state of  his administration's support for successful project implementation.

Governor Yahaya empathized that his administration came on board with a mission of change and hope to better the lives of the citizenry through an improved educational system and other socio-economic sectors despite the challenges on ground, hence his disposition towards strengthening partnership with development bodies.

Earlier in his remark, the state team leader of SENSE, Malam Ishiaku Babayo said the project aims at developing capacity of primary education managers, use data for informed decisions and improve school system.

He said the project is in close collaboration with key stakeholders in the primary education system such as Local Education Authority LEA, Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board, Teachers Service Commission and Teacher Training Institute in the state to train about 100 education managers and 500 primary school teachers within a 3 year period.

He added that the project which targets about 200 schools within the stipulated period will also be responsible for the provision of instructional materials to the identified schools.

Babayo also disclosed that the first phase of the project had identified 3 Local Government Areas  in the 3 senatorial zones of Gombe state with 6 schools from each of the identified LGAs.

He stated that Nafada in Gombe north, Akko in Gombe Central and Shongom in Gombe South will be the beneficiaries of the first phase of the project.

He added that stakeholders in the state were the decision makers behind the selection process of the benefiting  LGAs and were also fully involved in the project's workplan development for sustainability purpose.

Ismaila Uba Misilli
Senior Special Assistant
(Media and Publicity)