Gombe: Kaltungo chiefdom promotes peace, unity through carnival
The ancient town of Kaltungo, headquarters of Kaltungo LGA of Gombe State, hosted the people of Kaltungo Chiefdom comprising Kaltungo and Shongom LGAs to a colourful display of cultural heritage, known as the Pan-Mana Cultural Festival, to celebrate and maintain the history and traditions of the people of the chiefdom, from December 26 to 27, 2023.
Our correspondent reports that the carnival showcased a wide range of cultural activities including music, dances and display of cultural heritage.
The carnival also featured traditional foods. Visitors from within and outside Gombe State, including emirs and chiefs, top government officials, politicians and business moguls, inspected the dishes such as shinga and kwakshak.
On the morning of December 27, the Olusegun Obasanjo Stadium in Kaltungo Township, venue of the grand finale of the event, was filled to capacity with guests from within and outside the state, notable among who were the Deputy Governor, Dr Manassah Daniel Jatau; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Abubakar Sadiq Kurba, members of the state assembly and federal legislators, as well as members of the State Executive Council (SEC).
The Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Ahmad Nuhu Bamalli (Kaduna); Amna Shelleng (Adamawa), Alhaji Abdullahi Isa Dasong; Emir of Fika (Yobe), Muhammadu Abali Ibn Muhammadu Idrissa; Emir of Biu (Borno), Mustapha Umar Mustapha II; Emir of Gwoza (Borno), Alhaji Mohammed Shehu Timta; and Hama Batta (Adamawa), Alhamdu Gladstone Teneke, were also in attendance.
Others royal fathers are Mai Tula (Gombe), Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare II; Emir of Yamaltu (Gombe), Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu; and Emir of Funakaye (Gombe), Alhaji Yakubu Muhammadu Kwairanga, as well as other prominent people from the chiefdom and beyond.
The high point of the event was when the entourage of the Mai Kaltungo, the paramount ruler of the chiefdom, Engineer Saleh Muhammad, entered the stadium
Popular Tangale Sesame seeds dancers during the festival
Cultural troupes of some ethnic groups in the state, as well as from neighbouring Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states, also graced the occasion.
Cultural dance at the festival to a standing ovation.
Ethnic groups from across the chiefdom dressed in their traditional regalia welcomed the revered monarch with cheers signifying the commencement of the event.
Cultural troupes of some ethnic groups in the state, as well as from
Another group entertaining guests at the festival neighbouring Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states, also graced the occasion.
In his speech, the Mai Kaltungo urged Muslims, Christians and traditional worshippers in the chiefdom to embrace peace and preach love and unity among themselves.
He said the event was organised to bring the people of the chiefdom together with a view to ensuring a peaceful co-existence and share the joy of Christmas with the Christian faithful.
He explained that, “The PanMana is an occasion for all of us to come together for peace and
Tera cultural troupe also graced the occasion unity and to share our common heritage.”
He advised farmers in the state not to sell their farm produce to middlemen, only to buy them back at exorbitant prices, noting that such would create more hardship for them.
In a remark, the Emir of Zazzau urged stakeholders to harness culture to promote peace and unity in the state and the country.
He noted that events like the Kaltungo carnival that brought people together to showcase their cultures on the same platform had a way of unifying the people and promoting peaceful co-existence.
In his address, Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State said sustaining cultural values remained a vital tool for promoting peace, unity and social harmony.
Represented by his Deputy, Dr Jatau, Yahaya said any event that promoted the cultural heritage of ethnic groups was a platform to harmonise beliefs and enhance understanding.
He attributed some of the security challenges and other vices to the abandonment of cultural values, beliefs and practices.
He noted that the event was important because it served as a platform to mobilise stakeholders in the arts and culture industry to interact, showcase their talents and protect social values.
He said, “This government places a higher premium on the positive role that culture plays in the progress of any society.
“It is in this regard that the government has reached an advanced stage in the establishment of a museum under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, where cultural artefacts would be preserved for obvious reasons.
“Furthermore, the government has continued to promote our cultural heritage through supporting all ethnic groups that mark their cultural days.”
The governor added that his government would set aside to be called “Gombe Day of Culture” where all the ethnic groups in the state would showcase their cultures.
Gladiators gearing up for the September 21 governorship election in Edo State are leveraging on their plans for the education sector as strategy to woo the electorate, Daily Trust Saturday reports.
Ahead of the forthcoming September 21 governorship election in Edo State, aspirants, especially from the three major political parties—the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP)—have united on education as a major campaign agenda to secure their parties’ tickets.
The aspirants, who are still too numerous to list out because party primaries are yet to hold, have been moving round the state and wooing would be delegates with a view to emerging candidates of their various parties.
Daily Trust Saturday reports that they have put education as their focus and priority if eventually elected.
Education has become a burning issue in the state. It became tensed, especially when two viral videos of primary schools that need government’s attention surfaced in the social media.
In one of the videos, pupils of Osaretin Primary School, Uzzala in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area, which classroom collapsed during a recent rainfall, knelt down pleading with Governor Godwin Obaseki to repair the school.
The second video showed pupils of a primary school at Ewatto, Esan South East Local Government Area of the state sitting on the floor receiving lessons.
A resident who only gave his name as Igbinosa said most schools in the state needed refurbishment and new buildings.
Many dilapidated schools abound in the state, especially in the rural areas. During the last common entrance examination, there were schools in the suburb of Benin City as captured by a Benin-based broadcast house, where pupils sat on the floor writing examination.
“Most of the schools are bedeviled with inadequate teachers, leaking roofs, inadequate classrooms, desks, among other things, and all these need to be fixed by the coming government,” the resident said.
He said the red roof revolution in the education sector ended with the administration of the former governor of the state, now a Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
Daily Trust Saturday learnt that because of the dearth of teachers in the schools, communities across the states now contribute money to employ teachers for their secondary schools.
The chairman, Edo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Bernard Gbenga Ajobiwe, during last year’s Teachers’
Day celebration, said there was acute teacher shortage in both primary and secondary schools.
“There is acute teachers’ shortage in schools across the state. Due to the shortage, one or two teachers are handling the entire classes in schools.
“In view of the acute shortage of teachers following retirements, death and resignation, among other causes, in our primary and secondary schools, we appeal to you to recruit quality teachers to fill such vacancies across the state,” he said at the forum.
He said the development was worse in rural areas, where one to two teachers are handling entire classes in schools.
He said, “Teachers in such schools may be compelled to engage multi-grade teaching in primary school setting or teaching outside their areas of strength in secondary schools.
“We are appealing to you to intervene. Our schools are empty and pupils are not learning. In a situation where two or three teachers are teaching in the entire school, how do you expect effective teaching and learning to take place?”
This is, however, considered to be a direct opposite to the image of the education system the current governor has been painting. Governor Godwin Obaseki had said in different fora that his administration had raised the standard of education in the state with the introduction of the Edo State Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST), which has now been upgraded to EdoBEST 2.0.
The governor said his administration came up with EdoBEST in the education sector due to its failing standard, high level of absenteeism by teachers, as well as poor learning. He added that infrastructure was in a horrible state.
He said although the last administration did some work to stop the high level of vandalism and poor maintenance of schools in the state, quite a number of things were still needed to be fixed.
He said his administration had renovated over 400 primary schools, provided furniture and employed over 4,000 teachers to boost EdoBEST, which he started in 2018.
He said that with his reforms, teachers’ absenteeism had reduced significantly as they were able to monitor them with the aid of the technology he introduced.
He also said the standard of learning had improved, especially in foundational literacy and numeracy.
“It is because of the rapid success we made in enabling children to know how to read and write that in 2020, Edo State became the first sub-national government to be named out of accelerator countries,” he said.
In the 2024 budget, Governor Obaseki allocated N32billion to the education sector and promised to build more schools and reposition the sector before the end of his administration.
But aspirants to the state’s Government House insist that the reality on ground is at variance with what the governor wants the people to believe.
A federal lawmaker representing Etsako federal constituency, Dekeri Sunday Anamero, in his declaration of interest to contest the forthcoming 2024 governorship in the state, said education would be the cornerstone of his administration if eventually elected.
Anamero, who declared on the platform of the APC, pledged free education up to secondary level, as well as bursary for tertiary institution students if elected governor.
“If nominated and elected, our government will, on the first day in office, introduce free and compulsory education up to secondary level, while students in tertiary institutions will enjoy bursary support,” he said.
The lawmaker also said he would embark on massive construction of classrooms and provision of sitting materials.
The state deputy governor, Philip Shaibu of the PDP, in his declaration, also said education was one of the five pillars his administration would give priority if elected.
“We will revive the moribund scholarship board in the interest of indigent students, increase subvention to all state’s institutions of higher education and give full autonomy to state-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the appointment of heads. We will restructure the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to meet our desire for basic education.
“We will invest in primary, post primary and tertiary education by building infrastructure, improve school curriculum and employ teachers,” he said.
Also speaking, the immediate past president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, who declared on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), said he would invest more in education to bring back its lost glory in the state.
He described education as the bedrock of any society; hence he intends to invest heavily in terms of infrastructure, training and retraining of teachers.
On his part, Sergius Ogun, a former federal lawmaker and also of the Labour Party, said he would address the challenges in education.
Ogun said he built and renovated schools in his private capacity through his foundation and as a representative of the people, but lamented that, “We still have out-of-school children, terrible primary and secondary schools in communities, and schools without teachers. I will address these challenges.”
Another frontline aspirant on the platform of the governor’s party, PDP, Aslem Ojezua, said he was concerned about education, especially at the foundation level.
“We have a lot of schools but we don’t have teachers, making it look as if the state is not capable to pay for the number of teachers required.
“We have to look at how we get teachers at a less cost. Education is important. With education there is nothing we can’t do, and that is one area I am passionate about,” he said.
He said he would look at revisiting the issue of teacher training colleges so that more teachers would be trained.
Another aspirant, Kassim Afegbua, also of the APC, said education would be one of his priorities if elected.
“I will continue the red roof revolution of the government before this administration because of the infrastructural decay and rot in our education sector. It seems this government has since abandoned that sector,” he said.
Afegbua said what was still visible in state-owned schools were the red roof primary and secondary schools in villages and towns built by Oshiomhole between 2008 and 2016. “We are now in the era of so much propaganda.”
Also, the immediate past permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, while declaring his intention on the platform of the APC, lamented that the giant stride recorded in the education had been reversed.
“Edo has taken a back seat in terms of public education. If elected governor, I will reverse the trend by embarking on reforms, such as educational infrastructure revamp, improve school curriculum to meet current learning needs, training and retraining of teachers, as well as resuscitating vocational technical education,” he said.
However, Asue Ighogalo of the PDP, who many have been suggesting might be the preferred candidate of the incumbent governor, promised to build on the successes recorded in the education sector by the Governor Obaseki administration. He said he would invest in the education sector.