Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.

Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.

By: Dr. James BWALA

The Steve Oronsaye report, which failed in its implementation during the Jonathan and Buhari administration, has fallen into the loudest criticisms by Nigerians, especially the people of Borno State, owing to its seemingly reversed posture on the education of thousands who needed to add knowledge through the university system, particularly children of Borno State who are battling with the issues of Boko Haram, to the effect that it almost crippled west education in the state.

Schools are not enough in place in Borno State to cater to the needs on the ground in the fight to dismantle the minds of hundreds of thousands that have been indoctrinated against western education. According to many citizens, the order for the implementation of the Steve Oronsaye report, which named the Army University in Biu town in southern Borno, has a number of political interests, to the effect that some people have been pointing fingers at some politicians in the state for smuggling the de-Army University Biu in the reports.

I have spoken to many people on the earliest day of the report, trying to discredit their minds on certain individuals they are raising their doubts about for possibly working against the progress of the people by probably supporting the government’s idea of merging the Army University Biu with the Nigerian Defence Academy, which, in my opinion, is wrong to have begun to look at the situation from that angle. I have talked with a number of lecturers at both the University of Maiduguri and the Army University Biu to feel their pulse on certain name-callings.

Someone did send a message to me that read, “Mallam: Why should the Nigerian Army University be included in the ongoing implementation of the Steve Oronsaye Report? The report was dated in 2012, while the Army University was established in 2018. So the university couldn’t have been featured in the report. I smell a rat.”

Well, I already heard some names, which I tried to defend fairly in the face of confrontations. Sometimes I feel people who see themselves on the disadvantage side owing to what they heard other people say about them are often eager to move to anger over issues they may not be clear with, especially the Steve Oronsaye report and the involvement of the Nigerian Army University Biu.

I was particularly happy when I saw the Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, pleading with the federal government over the calculation to merge the Army University with the NDA. He went point blank to state the importance of the Army University to Borno State, to the extent that he pleaded for the federal ministry of education to take over the university as one of the federal government universities if it most affected the Steve Oronsaye report.

The Borno state governor, as I often described him, would not mince words to state the facts. If there are undertones, as some people have already misinterpreted through the gates of misinformation as they have gathered in their underneath assumptions, the professor as I know him over the years would not have been on the pages of newspapers and on radio and TV standing with the people to give reasons for the federal government to rethink its position on the Army University Biu.

Those who are thinking that the rest of the Borno state may not be standing with the southern Borno in the mere allegations should know that the members of the representatives in both the green and red chambers at the National Assembly have come together under one umbrella to speak with one voice over the intentions of the federal government on the Army University Biu as intended, pinning to the Steve Oronsaye report.

I believe that they have gone a long way to advise the government on the needs that must be met to allow the Army University Biu to stand on its own. The Army University Biu must be allowed to function, not as a department or otherwise, and way apart from the regimented NDA. It is to benefit the civilians, who are also tax payers, that makes the country thicker in blending civility and regimented lives. 

The Borno state governor’s voice, added to the many voices, has rekindled hope in this renewed hope mantra of the Tinubu Administration, and I hope that we can give space to understand certain situations before we speak of them, and not to add negative thoughts to innocent claims. Borno is home to us, and we must stand with our leaders. The Army University Biu never wanted to be sited in Biu in the first place, and these forces are not from Borno State.

James BWALA, PhD, writes from Abuja. 

Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.