Letter to the Editor
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For long, the Katsina South Senatorial Zone especially, Funtua town, easily the largest local council in the entire zone from which local governments councils namely Faskari, Sabuwa, Dandume, Danja and Bakori were created remains the most neglected in terms of presence of educational institutions compared to the other zones. Although there are a lot of Universities and Degree awarding Institutions in Katsina state, none of them is situated in Funtua town or Funtua Senatorial zone at large. All of these important institutions are either located in Katsina central or Daura zone.
For instance, all the institutions of higher learning both federal and state-owned are all located in Daura and Katsina Central Senatorial Zones. These include Umar Musa ‘Yar’adua University ( Katsina central ), Federal College of Education (Katsina central), Hassan Usman Polytechnic (Katsina central), Al-Qalam University (private Katsina central ), School of Nursing (Katsina central), National Open University (Katsina central ), Federal University Dutsinma (Katsina central ), Isa Kaita College of Education (Katsina central ), School of Health Kankia (Daura zone), Yusuf Bala school of Legal and Islamic Studies (Daura zone), School of Health Daura (Daura zone) and the Institute of computer Technology (Katsina central ).
This is in addition to health centres like the Federal Medical Centre (Katsina central), and the State Orthopedic Hospital (Katsina Central) amongst several other developmental projects.
With this lopsidedness which lacks equity, fair play and justice, people of the zone are at a great disadvantage in terms of employment opportunities, admissions for students and contracts for businessmen amongst sundry opportunities associated with such establishments. Little wonder then, that Funtua Zone the most populated zone in the state has a lot of unemployed youths and out of school youths who bereft of opportunities resort to political thuggery and increasing criminalities.
It is important to note that unlike in Katsina state, federal projects are evenly distributed in other states of the federation so as to confer sense of belonging to component parts of each state. For example most tertiary health institutions such as Federal medical Centers are located outside the state capitals since most federal and state medical colleges have their teaching hospitals situated in the state capitals.
It is a well-known fact that State governments statutorily hold title to land and as such anytime federal government conceive of projects to be sited outside the federal capital territory, state governors are usually consulted and they decide where such projects are sited.
It is in this regard that I am passionately calling on the Governor of Katsina state, Right Hon. Aminu Bello Masari to consider Funtua Senatorial Zone for the location of the Federal University of Aviation and the federal polytechnic as being proposed by the Federal Government. Our elder statesmen, traditional rulers and elected representatives should also lend their voices to this important clamour.
It would be recalled that during his maiden visit to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology Zaria, the then newly appointed Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika disclosed that the Federal Government was desirous of establishing a specialized Aviation Varsity in the country.
The zone being gateway to the North West geo-political zone has suitable topography and expansive land for the takeoff of such institutions. Its proximity to the premier college of aviation technology in Zaria, Air Force Institute of Technology in Kaduna and the two international airports in Kano and Sokoto respectively would be an added advantage. Haruna Hassan, Bayero University Kano