Teachers Will Not Suffer Again – Taraba Gov. Agbu Kefas

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

The Executive Governor of Taraba state, Dr. Agbu Kefas has told teachers across Taraba state that they will not suffer again if they agree to work together with his administration to achieve his free education policy.

The governor said this during a meeting with over 2,500 head teachers of primary schools and LG education secretaries at the Jolly Nyame Stadium, Jalingo.

He said that teachers too will get the necessary attention needed to help discharge their responsibilities, stressing that he meant what he said and that it’s a serious business.

He promised to provide free books, sandals and uniforms for all primary school pupils in the state, stressing that the uniforms will all be of the same material with the difference being in the school badges attached to the uniforms.

“Before I declared free education, I sent a team when I was governor-elect to go around all the 16LGAs to bring me data and pictures of all the primary and secondary schools in Taraba state. So when I came out to declare free education, I knew what I was saying, and there’s nobody that can change my mind on this;” he said

He assured them that teachers and head teachers will have the opportunity to attend seminars, workshops, and trainings within Taraba state, Nigeria and even outside Nigeria with plans to make provisions for housing projects for teachers so that they will be more focused and committed to their work.

He, however, showed his displeasure on the world index report of out-of-school children, which ranked Taraba state with the highest number despite the abundant deposits of natural resources, attributing it to a lack of knowledge. Agbu Kefas encouraged them to work closely together with the government to reduce the adverse effect of out-of-school children in society, stressing that when they embrace education, security issues will drastically reduce which will in turn, create room for investors to come into the state thereby translate into an increase in the internally generated revenue of the state which will be used to attend to most of their requests.

“After listening to your submission, we will set up a committee to review them and proffer the best approach on the way forward and this committee will be made up of one head teacher from the 16LGAs which will be chaired by the commissioner of education,” he said.

The governor also promised to reactivate the Taraba Printing Press to enable the government to meet up with the provision of books and other materials that will be needed to actualise the free education policy.

He appreciated the head teachers for honouring his invitation and reminded them of their needed support for the mission ahead to enable the government to provide for school children across the state.