A former governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida-Aliyu, has claimed that no state in Northern Nigeria can boast of 50 percent qualified teachers.
Mr Aliyu stated this at the 22nd Daily Trust Dialogue themed “Food Security: Availability or Affordability” held at the NAF Conference Centre, Abuja, on Thursday.
Although he didn’t provide the source of his data, the former governor lamented the impact of the illiteracy level in the region.
The former governor also questioned the wisdom behind the closure of the Nigeria-Niger border.
He said despite the closure, goods from Nigeria find their way to other ECOWAS nations.
“What is the importance of closing borders? What is the importance of that while the population of Nigeria is almost the population of other ECOWAS members? And every market you go to in ECOWAS countries, you will discover that more than half of the things in that market are from Nigeria.
“For example, in Niger the cow is still cheaper than in Nigeria. Apart from the inflation, it has always been like that because we used to send people there on good days to get these cows either for slaughter or Sallah. Why is this so? Please, do what you have to do. Do also the education.
“The second thing I am pursuing is education. In the northern states, there is no state with 50% qualified teachers. Even those who are attending the schools now, let alone those who are not able to attend school.
“Use federal universities of agriculture and universities of education to educate people. We need education to have people who are passionate about a particular thing,” Mr Aliyu added.
