The All Progressive Congress (APC) media outfit, APC News Media, has rated Kaduna State government high in the delivery of quality basic education.
The Chief Publisher, Dr Tom Ohikere, gave the rating in Kaduna on Wednesday, after an assessment tour of Universal Basic Education (UBE) supported projects in some parts of the state.
“Kaduna State is effectively and efficiently delivering quality basic education in the state and by our rating, Gov. Nasir El-Rufa’i’s performance is above 70 per cent.
“The state had ensured a good learning environment in most of the schools visited; good classrooms, water and sanitation facilities, libraries, and learning materials.
“We are also impressed with some Universal Basic Education (UBEC) direct intervention projects like a smart school at Kinkinau, and a skill acquisition centre for the girl-child at Birnin Yero,” he said.
Ohikere explained that the APC News Media, publisher of www.apcnewsonline.ng, was carrying out a sectoral inspection of the achievements of the APC-led government across APC-led states, with emphasis on UBE projects
.
He said that the goal of the exercise was to highlight the relentless effort of the APC-led administration in providing access to quality basic education through the UBE programme.
“The inspection covers projects executed with the aid of the Federal Government matching grants, as well as the direct intervention projects from the UBEC.
“There are also inspections of facilities, teachers’ welfare and capacity building, use of modern education technology, and periodic review of curriculum in line with current realities.
“There will also be an impact analysis of the executed projects through public engagement, to bring the perspective of the beneficiaries,” he said.
The chief publisher, a former Commissioner for Information in Kogi State, said that after the exercise, the states would be scored based on performance and top performing states would be awarded to spur healthy competition.
He said that a publication of all UBEC projects in every state would be unveiled during the award ceremony which would be held in Abuja.
Responding, Mr Mohammed Mubarak, Permanent Member, Physical and Project Monitoring, Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, thanked the APC News Media for recognising the government’s efforts in transforming the education sector.
Mubarak said that the government, with support from UBEC, had invested huge resources in improving the school’s facilities and learning materials.
“We thank you for your commendation but for us, we feel we are not there yet, and we need to do more, particularly with the current implementation of the 2017 to 2019 intervention projects.
“We are happy to hear from you that we are doing well. This will encourage us to do even better,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one of the schools visited include Local Government Education Authority Primary School, Lokoja Road, Rigasa, with 22,000 pupils, 205 teachers and 108 classes.
Others are, Smart Primary School, Kinkinau, being constructed by UBEC, to teach pupils coding and robotics, and a Skill Acquisition Centre for the girl-child, at Government Secondary School, Birnin Yero. (NAN)
