THISDAY

Aisha Plans to Establish University Named After President Buhari

- Daji Sani in Yola

Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has expressed plan to establish a private university to be known as Muhammadu Buhari University.

She disclosed this yesterday during a town hall meeting in Yola organized by her in collaborat­ion with concern indigenes of Adamawa.

Mrs Buhari, who did reveal when or where the university would be sited, explained that the university would be establishe­d in collaborat­ion with partners from Sudan and Qatar.

She also advocated for the formation of a trust fund to curb widespread poverty and other developmen­t challenges in her state of birth, Adamawa.

She lamented the challenges facing education and various sectors in the state and called for active support of the state indigenes in complement­ing government efforts.

“I cannot conclude without suggesting how we can complement the efforts of government in achieving some of its developmen­tal goals.

“I would like to advocate for the establishm­ent of Adamawa Developmen­t Trust Fund through which prioritize­d developmen­tal projects can be financed and implemente­d,” she said.

She urged the incoming government to form a cabinet of capable people who could come from any political party as long as such people possess the capacity to contribute meaningful­ly to the developmen­t of the state.

Justifying the event and the need for other concerted efforts, she said, “With the rampant security challenges, interethni­c conflicts, poor educationa­l enrolment of children in schools, poorly functionin­g health system, annual flood being experience­d, and continued influx of displaced people, our hope and solution as a people lies in our ability to join hands and form a coalition towards uplifting the state from its present predicamen­t.”

The town-hall meeting was a mix of cultural entertainm­ent and speeches from notable individual­s, including the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Umar Bindir, who first spoke of the state as one in which most residents live under acute poverty.

In his passion to demonstrat­e how Adamawa people were so poor that they ate the most pitiable of food and drank water that fails all safety qualities, he shot the government which he serves in the foot, as one of the speakers that followed would indicate.

A former military governor of Lagos State, Gen Buba Marwa, who is noted for being a critic of Governor Mohammed Bindow despite being in the ruling All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) together, said with the SSG’s account, nobody needed to look further for why Bindow failed re-election.

“Adamawa State is in a mess. The SSG said it. We all now know why APC lost the state,” Marwa said.

However, the state Deputy Governor, Hon Martins Babale, who represente­d Governor Bindow at the event, said the government had in the last four years done its best to improve the human and institutio­nal profiles of the state.

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