Ambassador Bashir Submits Michika Chiefdom Education Report to Traditional Ruler

The Standing Committee on Education and Youth Development of Michika Chiefdom, chaired by Ambassador Ibrahim Mohammed Bashir, OFR, has formally submitted its report to His Royal Majesty, Prof. Luka Bulus Gadiga.

This committee was entrusted with the responsibility of selecting qualified post-primary school students for sponsorship to continue their education at Nigerian public universities.

The committee accomplished its task two months prior to the anticipated deadline. The report delineates the committee’s terms of reference, which encompass the promotion of education, the organization of youth programs, and the evaluation of educational needs within the chiefdom.

Based on the findings of the report, His Royal Majesty will provide funding for Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination forms for 66 high-achieving students, including those with special needs. The committee established a selection criterion that resulted in the identification of four beneficiaries per ward, culminating in a total of 66 students (42 female and 24 male).

Among these students, the top JAMB scorers from each of the four development areas will be included in the five students sponsored to complete their degree programs at public universities under the auspices of His Royal Majesty.

The selection process included students from 16 political wards, with four candidates designated from each ward.

His Royal Majesty’s initiatives are indicative of a commitment to enhancing education and fostering youth development within Michika Chiefdom, bolstered by the steadfast support of the traditional ruler. This undertaking reflects the chiefdom’s dedication to education and the empowerment of its youth.

The composition of the committee included:
– Prof. Stephen T. Kojigili – Member
– Prof. Julius Lkama – Member
– Prof. Joseph Zambwa – Member
– Prof. Augustine A. Ndaghu – Member
– Prof. Kalep B. Filli – Member
– Hon. Ishaku Teri – Member
– Education Secretary, Michika LGA – Secretary

Meanwhile, the Nigerian service tradition over the years has proved that once leaders are in the status of Amb. Ibrahim Mohammed Bashir OFR crosses the Nigeria Rubicon; they hardly step backwards for what IBB once christened backward integration to serve at that lower level for development.

And one of the assumptions could be an inductive corrupt system that creates a class mentality that doesn’t allow “arrived men and women” in leadership to step down for service at what is seen as the shameful level, the grassroots. To see a man of Amb. Bashir’s stature in accepting responsibility at that level of leadership is rare, except for consultancy or business.

So, in Nigeria, you could have a local domain with many sons and daughters of substance. Still, it could remain an undeveloped domain struck by abject poverty because the very sons and daughters either have refused or ignored nature’s demand to plough back service to the community that has raised them.

Sir Ahmadu Bello was the first exemplary leader of service at the grassroots: one, having achieved overwhelming acceptability in the entire northern region and having consolidated that with power, he refused to become Nigeria’s first prime minister to serve his highly backward northern region. While the likes of Awo and Zik were pushing all fronts for it, he settled for the premiership of the north. Two, he moved from one locality to another, sourcing for youths who had prospects to engage them at various levels of training to boost the manpower of the north and raise the educational level of the region.
This is why the acceptance of Amb. Ibrahim Mohammed Bashir OFR to chair a standing committee on education and youth development established by his Royal Majesty prof Luka Bulus Gadiga of the New Michika Chiefdom, remains a model in humility for service delivery.

Many will not understand the sacrifice that has come with his acceptance to chair a committee of this nature. First, the cost of coming down from Abuja all the time is enormous; secondly, the loss of man-hours for all his businesses and his personal comfort is revolutionary and inspiring enough to be described as iconic! Who does this kind of sacrifice now, when he could easily donate his resources and ask his Majesty to appoint local staff to do that!

Amb. Bashir is an example of the likes of the famous late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who preferred grassroots governance and conceived the UJAMAA African democratic philosophy, a philosophy that was to be based on empowering the youths through education and skills at the grassroots level.

Amb. Bashir has demonstrated what is needed at the right time, as Nigeria is in search of unity and good leadership. He has either knowingly or unknowingly caught the vision and mission of the current viral movement of the time, the Gongola Peoples’ Forum (GPF), which has successfully partnered with the Fintiri administration to create new chiefdoms and Emirates to give our people the right to self-determination and autonomy.

The GPF has been sourcing for the likes of Amb Bashir to take leadership challenges, and it is gladdening to see him warm up to the philosophy of the GPF, which has successfully brought over 83 indigenous ethnic nationalities together under this revolutionary umbrella.
Michika chiefdom is setting a pace for the very reason it was created, and Amb Bashir is a timely player in the team that would finally prove autonomy for the people was the best thing that has happened in the state.