By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

Friday, February 28, 2014, is not a day that Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State can forget in a hurry. On that day, he added another feather to his cap. As he sauntered into the prestigious Banquet Hall, State House, Ghana, something big was awaiting him: the organisers of the African Achievers Awards, AAA, had listed him as one of the recipients of its awards for outstanding achievements in education in 2014.

Resplendent in his white Babariga attire with a cap to match, the ex-banker stood before the master of ceremony before turning to face the audience who clapped enthusiastically as his name was announced as one of the award recipients from Nigeria. Approximately 40 percent of the audience was made up of Nigerians, who had come from different parts of Ghana to witness the event.

“Realising your enormous contribution to the development of the education sector in your state, which has given hope to many and raised the potentials of development there, we give you this award today in recognition of your efforts,” the organisers said.
As the governor collected the medal, he turned to the audience and smiled broadly before acknowledging cheers.

The honour bestowed on him was spectacular because unlike the others that he had garnered in the past; this particular one came from unexpected quarters-Africa. It was in recognition of Yuguda’s enormous contributions to education, which has lifted Bauchi from one of the educationally disadvantaged states in the North to one, where the natives  hold their heads high and Yuguda himself is happy with the strides in that sector of the economy.

With the award in his hands, the governor declared: I want to thank you for this honour, which you have given to me today and I warmly dedicate it to the good people of Bauchi State and Nigeria, who have been standing by me to do my best for the upliftment of the standards of education in the state. This award, which I consider as a challenge, will spur me and my team to do more in order to raise the bar in education in Bauchi State. Thank you very much.”

Transforming the educational sector had been uppermost in Yuguda’s development agenda from the outset. The governor knew how precarious the system was and seemed to have come with an answer.
Aware that the number of teachers available in the state was inadequate, he made himself available as one of those to be imparting knowledge regularly to students.

He leaves his official residence to teach. As a rule, he hardly announces to any of his aides which school he is going to visit next. He does not also inform any of the school heads of his visits. Once he is free from official engagements, he dashes into his car and asks the driver to move into any school of his choice with chalk on hand to do one thing: impart knowledge. He has been doing it for some years now and the students and teachers often look forward to sit and listen to his lectures, mostly on economics, finance and banking and English Language. Yuguda graduated with a B.Sc in economics and later secured an MBA.

His resolve to redress the decay in the very vital sector of the state’s development propelled him to establish the Bauchi State University, which opened to pioneer students during the 2011/2012 academic year.
That singular investment in the education sector has created a unique opportunity for  students of the state origin to acquire education in their chosen fields of endeavour. In the past, students from the state could hardly get placement in the nearby tertiary schools, thereby stifling their educational advancement.

It was so bad that Bauchi was placed among the educationally disadvantaged states in Nigeria, stung with a high illiteracy rate that was also among the highest in the country. But all that is now history as the Yuguda administration has taken the bull by the horn by creating new frontiers for the state to move forward educationally. Apart from the establishment of the Bauchi State University with campuses in Azare and Gadau, the state government has  established colleges for technical and agricultural training.

The massive intervention has led to the emergence of brand new colleges at Gadau, Gumau,Bununu, Hardawa, Nabardo and Yana.
One of the most outstanding structures of the administration is the Sa’adu Zungur Primary School in the heart of Bauchi, which the Yuguda administration has built into a massive conducive teaching and learning complex that gives it the ambience of a foreign university in Nigeria.