Education is universally recognized as an instrument for social, political, scientific and technological development. Many countries in the world see education as a good investment for national development because it is expected to produce the required quantity and quality of human resources for the socio-economic growth using the mix of inputs. Nigeria, being fully aware of this, desired education as an instrument per excellence in the development of the national economy. This desire has been heightened by the act that the development history of advanced countries such as Britain, America, Germany and France, to mention but a few, is strongly hinged on education.
Since education is on the concurrent list in Nigeria, state governments own a large proportion of secondary and primary schools there by making it a top priority to provide quality education for the people. This has made state governors including Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa to prioritize education in the state.
On his assumption of office in 2019, Governor Fintiri met an education system that was in a sorry state in terms of access, enrolment, retention, and progression with ill-motivated teachers, poor learning infrastructure, lack of teaching aides and lack of incentives and subsidies for teachers, parents and students. Governor Fintiri initiated incentives packages by adopting free education policies without payment of tuition fees in public schools. The administration also initiated the payment of national examination fees such as JSSCE, WAEC and NECO; and payment of bursaries (Scholarship) to indigent students in tertiary institutions, and so on.
Before this administration, teachers were owed areas of salaries, but on his assumption in office, t Governor Fintiri reversed this ugly trend by ensuring that teachers in Adamawa state are paid regularly. The infrastructures in various institutions of leaning have been improved by providing teaching and learning aides to schools, including the provision of scholarships to students of various tertiary institutions. The governor has ensured that Basic education is free in the State and no child is paying for both NECO and WAEC Exams in Adamawa State. Governor Fintiri will soon commence the renovation of 10 legacy secondary schools across the State. These investments and many more are aimed at encouraging school enrolment and progression to ensure that no child is left behind.
It is worthy of note that Governor Fintiri is happy that investment is yielding the desire result in the state very fast especially in the performance of students in national examinations. This is evident as the performance of students who scored 5credits and above including the basic subjects of English Language and Mathematics in this year’s WAEC alone stood at over 75% with over 85% performance in NECO in the same subjects. What this means is that the combined performance of students in these national examinations is over 90%; it has also go further to demonstrate that the greater percentage of these students have the requisite qualification to sit for and pass JAMB to gain admission into tertiary institutions of their choices. This is an unprecedented feat in the combined history of both Adamawa State and defunct Gongola State.
Nothing can be more encouraging and rewarding, at the same time, than this. In order to lift up tertiary institution in the state, the Administration Governor Fintiri has also ensure that the Modibbo Adama University is empower to train Nigerians in all areas including humanities and medical sciences, with its teaching hospital at the defunct Federal Medical Centre, Yola. This became fruitful when the governor led a high-powered delegation to see the President in 2019 to ensure the feat was achieved.
In the areas of health, the administration of Governor Fintiri came when the health system was managing to survive with the support of donor partners with poor service delivery and dilapidated infrastructure. Governor Fintiri of Adamawa State, is already building 5 brand new cottage hospitals and Staff Quarters in Lamurde, Shelleng, Demsa, Girei and Gombi that are completed. The Governor has also rehabilitated and upgraded the hospitals in Song and Fufore with the one at Dumne, which was abandoned for over 4 decades almost completed. The administration of Fintiri is also rehabilitating the Generals Hospitals in Ganye, Numan, and Mubi to cope with the referrals from the cottage hospitals. The government have invested many resources in the Primary Health Care where and constructed 8 new Primary Health Care Centres while 17 existing ones have been renovated and upgraded. Another 7 medical centers have been provided modern medical facilities while 17 other centers have been fence across the State. Governor Fintiri has also completed the 3 medical Centers that were inherited from previous administration. In addition,10 new Health Posts, 2 Laboratories and over 30 VIP latrines have been constructed. In the area of manpower, the administration has recruited Medical Doctors and Nurses to man the existing hospitals across the state.
The state government has also approved the establishment of State Health Insurance Scheme which is aimed at supporting low-income earners and vulnerable people in the State to access quality health care services. Under this scheme, children under 5 years, pregnant mothers and the aged’ above 65 years will receive free medical attention. At the moment, over 70,000 people have already been enrolled in scheme and the enrolment campaign is still ongoing. Out of the enrollees, over 60% of the people are from the poor and vulnerable households that cannot access quality medical services. No wonder that the Health Indicators from the Federal Ministry of Health, has place Adamawa State on top rating it as one of the states with the best Health Indices in the Northeast.
Anini writes from Jimeta, Adamawa State