By IBRAHIM KANOMA, Gusau
The Zamfara State House of Assembly during its resumed plenary, on Wednesday, passed a resolution calling on the state government to consider the re-opening of both state owned and private schools across the state.
This, the lawmakers of the House said, is to allow students resume in their respective schools for conducive atmosphere of teaching and learning.
The DEFENDER reports that the resolution, although sounding shocking to some members of the society considering the reason the tough decision shutting down the schools was made, followed a motion by Hon. Yusuf Alhassan Kanoma representing Maru North Constituency and Chairman House Standing Committee on Basic, Secondary and non-formal Education.
It was seconded by Hon. Aliyu Namaigora Danjibga representing Tsafe West Constituency.
In his submission Hon. Yusuf Kanoma said that continued closure of schools in the state will be doing more harm than good in every facet of human endeavour in the state and said, therefore, that there was the urgent need to consider re-opening them “to avoid producing bunch of illiterates that will lead to another catastrophe to the state in the near future.”
Hon. Kanoma further affirmed that since there was a relative peace being enjoyed in some parts of the state leading to the re-opening of some weekly markets and restoration of telecommunication networks, that there was also the compelling need for the government to reconsider this noble idea of schools re-opening in some locations in Gusau and some selected local government areas of the state.
He also maintained that, for a start, all final year female boarding schools located in Moriki, Kwatarkwashi and female day schools in Gusau should be merged to Government Girls Arabic Secondary School, formally known as W. A. T. C. Gusau.
According to him, final year male boarding schools and their day counterperts in Shinkafi, Zurmi and Birnin Magaji Local Government Areas should also be merged to Government Technical College Kaura Namoda, to be thoroughly prepared for their final examinations.
The same arrangement, according to Hon. Kanoma, should be applied in the western part of the state with a suitable location in Talata Mafara Local Government Area to take charge of the zone in his proposed merger arrangement as moved in the motion.
In their separate remarks, Hon. Nura Dahiru Sabon Birnin Dan Ali, Hon. Aliyu Namaigora Danjibga and Hon. Sani Dahiru Adabka, as well as the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Musa Bawa Musa Yankuzo, unanimously agreed with the motion moved by their colleague and called for total re-opening of schools, while House Leader, Hon. Faruk Musa Dosara said extra caution had to be taken, in order to avoid security lapses of the past.
He said “before embarking on this serious exercise, concrete arrangement between the co-ordinating security agencies, vigilante groups, Ministry of Education as well as host communities must be made to ensure the safe school initiative in the state.”
In his ruling, the Chief Presiding Officer and Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, while commending the forsight of the sponsor of the motion, Kanoma, for drawing government’s attention to re-opening and safe school initiative, ruled that public schools should be re-opened.
He was, however, meticulous as he said “but in batches”, meaning that government should do so by merging some schools only in the headquarters of senatorial districts of the state.
Speaker Magarya directed the secretariat of the House to convey the House resolution to the Secretary to the State Government for implementation with immediate effect,
Also at plenary, the House considered and adopted all the recommendations of Ethics and Privileges Committee, which had investigated the two suspended members of the House, Hon. Yusuf Muhammad Anka representing Anka Consultancy and Hon. Ibrahim Tukur Bakura representing Bakura Constituency, who were alleged to have been involved in unholy and unethical conduct.
In the report, the committee exonerated the embattled members from any wrong doing and gave them a clean bill of health and strongly recommended for their immediate recall back to their respective seats.
Immediately after the presentation of the report before the House by the Chairman House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Hon Kabiru Hashimu Dansadau, and subsequent deliberations, debate and arguments on the matter, the House unanimously agreed to recall their colleagues, since they had been exonerated from any wrong doing.
Speaker Magarya, in his remarks, saluted the courage of the committee for painstakingly arriving at the conclusion, and adopted all their recommendations and ordered the recall of the two suspended House members with effect from next legislative year beginning from 15 January, 2022.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Director General, Press Affairs and Public Relations, Zamfara State House of Assembly, Mustapha Jafaru Kaura.
