The Commissioner of Higher Education in Borno State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Jaha has said that government has not lost sight of “human and
manpower development,” despite the ongoing security challenges the state contends and grapples with since the last four years of Governor Shettima’s administration.
The manpower development cuts across various disciplines and professions, including health and agricultural sectors that could
raise the living standards of people living in rural and urban centres of Borno state.
Jaha disclosed this at a news conference on Monday at the Musa Usman secretariat complex, Maiduguri on the state’s manpower requirements
and development.
He said that the Borno state government was conscious of the fact that development encompasses “interdependent components and variables of
tangible and non-tangible requirements” by awarding scholarships across all facets of resource and manpower developments.
“Bearing in mind the indispensability of manpower and human capacity building to sustainable development, Borno state took
bold steps to raise both the standard and quality of its citizens through the award of scholarships for both local and overseas training
for all deserving graduates and undergraduates in this state,” he said.
The Commissioner also said a total of 373 students were awarded scholarships at the cost of over N1 billion from the year 2010 to 2014.
Such scholarships, according to the Commissioner, cut across various disciplines and professions, including health, agriculture, electricity, law, Marine Engineering and Nautical Science sectors of the economy.
He said: “The state government sponsored 20 students to the United Kingdom (U.K) to read Msc Degrees in Petrochemical Engineering in 2013
and the sum of N142.3 million was expended on scholarship and other training requirements.
“The manpower development efforts of Government did not stop at the award of scholarships to deserving students for overseas training
alone. In 2011, government spent the sum of N22.85 million on scholarships for 52 students at the Nigerian Law School. In 2012, the
sum of N24 million was also expended on 59 students for the same programme. In the subsequent year of 2013, the Shettima administration
spent over N24 million for 52 students in the institution the
following year of 2014. The scholarships expenditures for 85 students at the Nigeria Law School also gulped N59.45 million.”
Jaha also added: “To boost the quality of training in the Agricultural Sciences, the state government through the State Ministry of
Agriculture sponsored 50 graduates to Thailand for agricultural training and another 50 set of graduates were sent to India for
similar training in harnessing Borno’s rich agricultural and mineral resources.
“Recently, with the gracious assistance of UNICEF, that indicated its readiness to sponsor 47 orphans to Madona University, Port Harcourt,
the state government guaranteed to provide logistics, including transportation and other essential needs of the students to the sum of N11 million.
“At this rate of seriousness on the part of the government and with the cooperation of the good people of Borno state, and God’s willing
with the growing hope for peace restoration in the state, this administration is more than ever before determined to take education
and human capacity building to higher levels”.
