How Namadi’s investment in the girl-child will secure Jigawa’s Future
By Lawal Jet Kaugama
Governor Malam Umar Namadi has once again demonstrated that his administration’s commitment to education is not merely lip-service but backed by concrete, far-reaching action, visible to critics.
Last Friday in Jahun, the governor flagged off a landmark intervention that will see thousands of female students across Jigawa State receive essential learning materials, a gesture that speaks directly to the heart of what keeps children, especially girls, in the classroom.
According to sources close to the initiative, the intervention forms part of a broader strategy to make education more accessible and affordable for the children of Jigawa State, with particular emphasis on the girl-child.
Under the scheme, 48,300 school uniforms, 15,000 school bags, 40,000 sanitary pads, 4,000 sets of writing materials and 40,000 exercise books are being distributed to female students in post-basic schools across the state.
The support does not end there: 22,500 uniforms have been earmarked for junior secondary schools, 11,000 for nomadic schools, and 3,800 for Qur’anic school students in integrated Tsangaya schools.
The scale of this intervention deserves close attention. It is one thing for a government to speak about girl-child education in policy documents; it is quite another to place sanitary pads, uniforms and exercise books directly into the hands of the families who need them most.
For many households across Jigawa, the cost of keeping a daughter in school, uniforms, sanitary provisions, writing materials, is not a small matter. These are the quiet, unglamorous expenses that too often tip the scale toward a girl dropping out. By addressing them head-on, Governor Namadi’s administration has removed one of the most persistent barriers to female school attendance and completion.
What makes this initiative particularly commendable is its inclusiveness. It reaches beyond the conventional post-basic school system to embrace nomadic schools and integrated Tsangaya schools, institutions that serve some of the most vulnerable and historically underserved communities in the state.
Nomadic children and those in Qur’anic education have long lived at the margins of mainstream educational planning. That this administration has chosen to extend uniforms and materials to these groups as well signals a vision of education that is genuinely inclusive rather than a selective convenience.
There is also a deeper philosophy at work here; a truth that development economists and educationists have long affirmed: educating a girl does not merely change one life, it transforms a family, and by extension, a community.
When a mother is literate, her children are more likely to attend school. When a woman is skilled, her household is more likely to escape poverty.
Jigawa State, under Gov Namadi, appears to have internalised this lesson and translated it into governance policies.
It is worth situating this intervention within the wider global context that the governor himself has alluded to. The nations that today lead in prosperity and innovation are those that recognised, early, that education is the true engine of societal growth.
In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and knowledge-driven economies, the strength of a nation is no longer measured by physical resources or manpower in the traditional sense, but by the quality and reach of its human capital.
A state, or indeed a country, that invests in educating its girls today is quietly building the workforce, the leadership and the innovation base of tomorrow.
Yet, as the Governor rightly acknowledged, government action alone cannot secure this future. Parents must ensure their daughters attend school consistently. Teachers must nurture and encourage them. Traditional and religious leaders must continue to champion girl-child education within their communities, dismantling old prejudices that once saw a daughter’s education as secondary to a son’s.
Development partners, too, have a role in sustaining and scaling such interventions. Materials, however generously provided, are only the beginning; it is the collective commitment of an entire society that ultimately keeps a child learning.
Gov Namadi has set a clear example of what deliberate, well-targeted investment in education can look like. The task now is for every stakeholder, families, educators, community and religious leaders, and civil society, to rally behind this vision.
If Jigawa State continues on this trajectory, it will not only transform the prospects of tens of thousands of girls today but will lay a foundation for a more educated, skilled and competitive Jigawa in the decades ahead. This is the kind of leadership that other states, and indeed the nation, would do well to emulate.
Lawal Jet Kaugama, a commentator on national issues, can be contacted via [email protected]