Address by his excellency the executive governor of Yobe State Hon. Mai Mala Buni CON, Comn on the occasion of the convocation ceremony of the Federal University Gashua on 12th July 2025
I am deeply humbled, and profoundly grateful for the honour done to me and other recipients with the award of the prestigious Honourary Doctorate degrees (Honaris Causa) from this fast growing center of academic excellence in the Sahelian region of our dear state.
I wish to congratulate the University governing council, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Maimuna Waziri, the Management, staff and students of this great institution, on this historic occasion of this maiden combined convocation ceremony.
Let me also congratulate you for the peace and industrial harmony enjoyed in the university, and the peaceful coexistence with your host community. The provision of infrastructure and facilities to meet the requirement of the accreditation of your courses are indeed giant strides towards making this university a center of academic excellence.
Since time immemorial, education has been a major factor for development. Barrack Obama, former President of the United States of America, said “Education is the currency of today’s economy”. This explains why governments all over the World attaches great importance to education.
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In Yobe State, our sad experience of protracted insurgency, had unfortunately disrupted the sector with grievous consequences. Education suffered the most of all the sectors from the insecurity challenge. Many schools were destroyed, teachers and students were killed. The insurgency was deliberately intended to make western education unattractive and unfashionable.
However, in our determination to change the situation, I declared a state of Emergency on Primary and Basic Education on the very first day l assumed office as Governor of our dear state on 29th May 2019 with a strong commitment to rehabilitate and reinvigorate the sector.
In order to achieve this, our administration increased the budgetary allocation to the education sector significantly to enable the Ministries of Higher Education, Science and Technology, and that of Basic and Secondary Education to execute projects while implementing policies that are capital intensive despite the competing demands for our limited resources. This deliberate policy approach stems from our solemn belief that education is the bedrock for the development of any society that wishes to improve the living standard of its people.
I am pleased to share with you the resilience and unshaken resolution exhibited by the government and people of Yobe state to pursue education with vigour. The government organized the first ever summit on education which came up with immediate, short and long term recommendations to rejuvenate the sector.
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Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to state that our administration reconstructed over 250 schools destroyed by the insurgency, established 15 Mega and Model schools, expanded many others, constructed students hostels, laboratories, libraries, and engaged in a massive campaign to increase enrolment especially to improve girl-child education. We established eight Government Girls Senior Secondary Schools in different parts of the state. We also employed over 5,000 qualified teachers, procured and distributed text books, laboratory equipment and other instructional materials to boost education across the state.
It is heartwarming that these interventions have paid off with great achievements. Our students in public schools recorded unprecedented performances with excellent scores in external examinations, qualifying them to gain admission into tertiary institutions. l am sure a good number of them are here today as proud graduates and students of this promising University.
Today, we have about 40,000 Yobe state students studying various courses in Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges and other tertiary institutions both in Nigeria and overseas, enjoying government sponsorship.
I am glad to state with a sense of responsibility that our administration has subsidized education in the state. Our tertiary institutions remain one of the few in Nigeria charging the least tuition fees. This is deliberately fashioned to make education affordable and accessible to our youth, while the state owned university and all the other tertiary institutions continue to enjoy and receive government attention.
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The State Government upgraded three institutions of higher learning to conventional mono-technics which include the College of Education and Legal studies Nguru, College of Agriculture, Science and Technology Gujba and the College of Administration, Management and Technology Potiskum.
The College of Medical Sciences at the Yobe State University Damaturu has gained accreditation by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria giving the course the legal framework and recognition to be studied in the university.
A few months ago, we celebrated 171 graduates of Medical and allied courses sponsored to Indian Universities by the state government. It is gratifying that these graduates have now been employed and deployed to various health facilities across the state to boost the manpower needs in our health sector.
I am equally glad to inform this gathering that the establishment of a Biomedical Research and Training Center at the Yobe State University remains one of our major success stories. I salute the commitment of our dedicated Founder/Director Prof. Mahmoud Maina Bukar, the Management and staff of the Teaching Hospital for placing Yobe state on the international map of research and training. The center has become a hub attracting international researchers from across the globe.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to share with you that the research center is currently working in partnership with some internationally renowned researchers, and research institutes to unveil the remote cause of the rampant cases of kidney failure in the state especially in Bade and Jakusko local government areas. Already, a team of researchers had taken over 2,000 samples from these communities which are now undergoing clinical analysis. I wish to restate the commitment of this administration to achieving this target and save our people from this age-long medical challenge.
Similarly, our administration introduced result-oriented reforms in the health sector, including the Health Insurance scheme (YOCHMA) to make healthcare delivery accessible and affordable to the people of the state.
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The government also invested massively in agriculture, providing subsidized agricultural inputs, targeting the youth at the ward levels to engage in agriculture to boost food sufficiency, food security and economic prosperity. The intervention has already recorded tangible progress with increase in agricultural productivity.
At this juncture, let me use this opportunity to commend the President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR for the bold initiative to establish the Nigerian Education Loans Fund (NELFUND). This novelty in the history of Nigeria’s educational development will go a long way in providing our promising youth with a pathway towards realizing their full potentials through higher education in their chosen fields with less financial challenges.
Before I conclude this address, I wish to call on our tertiary institutions to explore the opportunities in entrepreneurial education to create employment through self-reliance for our youth. Our administration is willing to partner and support both the state and federal owned institutions in the interest of our youth and the future of the state. This has become necessary for the inadequacy of white-collar jobs, and the obvious need for our youth to have a means of livelihood.
Let me take this opportunity to also felicitate with my fellow awardees, Her Excellency, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (CON), First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam FNCA, FCPA, Hon. Minister of Police Affairs, Distinguished Senator, Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan (PhD. GCON), President of the 9th Senate, HRH Hon. Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I (rtd)-Emir of Lafiya and former Supreme Court Justice and Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji former Head of Federal Civil Service for being considered worthy of this prestigious conferment by the University.
The conferment of awards by the University authority would no doubt encourage the recipients to do more, and serve as inspiration to others to emulate them in their noble activities for the advancement of humanity.
Once again, I congratulate the Federal University of Gashua, the staff, students, the graduates and fellow recipients of the Doctorate degrees. I call on the graduates to remain good ambassadors of the university and to do this institution proud at all times.
Thank you.
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