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Tag: Hajiya Fatima Madugu

  • Niger State secures N2bn loan for 10, 000 teachers

    The Niger State Government says it has secured a loan facility of N2 billion through its Universal Basic Education Board for 10, 000 teachers.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Fatima Madugu, disclosed this during the ministry’s 2019 budget defense before the Niger House of Assembly Committee on Education on Tuesday in Minna.

    Madugu said that the facility was obtained to motivate the teachers to put in their best and promote learning.

    She said that 150 new teachers were recruited in 2018 and posted to schools to beef up the staff strength.

    The commissioner, however, decried the low releases of the ministry’s budgetary funds in 2018, adding that it had affected the completion of ongoing projects in the sector.

    On the 2019 budget, she said N1.4 billion was earmarked for capital projects, adding that the funds would be utilized to complete all ongoing projects and upgrade the existing infrastructure.

    Read Also: Niger State pilgrim dies in elevator pit

    “Priority areas of the 2019 budget include commencement of the second phase of the whole school development approach.

    ‘’Other areas are renovation of Government Technical College, Minna, Government Technical College Eyagi-Bida, Government Vocational Technical College, Rijau and Ahmadu Bahago Secondary School, Minna.

    Also in the priority list is the construction of new structures at Teachers Institutes at Agaie and Nasarawa Kainji,” she said.

    The House Committee Chairman on Education, Bako Alfa, cautioned the ministry against extra budgetary spending without recourse to the assembly.

    Alfa assured the ministry of the committee’s support to ensure smooth implementation of its budget.

     

    NAN

  • Niger to renovate 12 more schools in 2018

    Niger to renovate 12 more schools in 2018

    Hajiya Fatima Madugu, the Niger State Commissioner for Education, says the state government is to renovate six vocational and technical schools and six day secondary schools in 2018.

    Madugu said in Minna on Tuesday that the renovation was part of the second phase of the government’s school development programme which started in 2017.

    Reports say that the state government had spent N4.3 billion on renovation and provision of furniture in some selected schools in the first phase of the programme.

    The commissioner said that the programme involved renovation and furnishing of schools as well as training of teachers.

    Read also: Sokoto distributes 45,926 desks to schools

    She said that this was part of the state government’s efforts to provide a conducive environment for teaching and learning in order to improve educational standard in the state.

    “One technical and one vocational school will be selected for renovation in each of the three zones in the state and six day schools will also be upgraded.

    “We want to renovate the facilities in our technical and vocational schools and provide them with modern equipment and infrastructure to facilitate a conducive learning environment.

    “The workshops and training centres of these schools will also be upgraded to enable the students to acquire different skills.’’

    She disclosed that the ministry would also be training teachers on modern teaching techniques.

    According to her, principals and vice principals across the seven zonal offices in the state are already undergoing training.

    “Training of teachers is an initiative of the ministry. We have started with principals and vice-principals; they are being trained on modern teaching techniques.

    “They are are also being trained on how to administer schools. We are done with three zones; two zones are left.

    “Once we are done with the principals and the vice-principals, we will start with our teachers,’’ the commissioner said.

    NAN

  • FG urged to adopt Nanotechnology in science, technology development

    FG urged to adopt Nanotechnology in science, technology development

    Hajiya Fatima Madugu, the Niger Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology on Monday urged the Federal Government to adopt Nanotechnology in the development of science and technology sector.

    Madugu, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, noted that Nanotechnology if adopted, would impact positively on industries and all spheres of the society.

    She said that Nanotechnology was the application of extremely small things that could be applied across all fields of sciences such as chemistry, biology, physics, material science and engineering.

    “The technology will offer better built, long lasting, cleaner, safer and smarter products for the home, communication, medicine, transport, agriculture industry as well as the power sector.

    “Imagine a technology that can be used to deploy a medical device that travels through the human body to seek out and destroy small clusters of cancerous cells before they can spread.

    “ This will be wonderful,’’ she said.

    According to her, understanding and utilising Nanotechnology will offer not only better products but vastly improved manufacturing process.

    “Nanotechnology is the next industrial revolution. It may be only a matter of time.

    “The real meaning of Nanotechnology will be clearly defined by the time building of products becomes cheap as the copying of files in a computer,’’ she said.

    Nanotechnology is the use of techniques and tools being developed today to make complete and high-performance products.

  • Cambridge University trains 100 Niger teachers

    Cambridge University trains 100 Niger teachers

    The Niger State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hajiya Fatima Madugu, says the Cambridge University in the United Kingdom (UK)  had trained  100 teachers in the state.

    Madugu said this on Wednesday while defending the ministry’s 2017 budget proposal at the State House of Assembly ‎in Minna.

    She said the state paid N89million for the training as part of its efforts to transform the educational sector.

    ‎“The teachers were trained on the quality of instruction they will give to their pupils in‎ their classes and modern teaching technologies.

    “’We are trying to transform the existing educational practice in Niger by creating an educational system that is efficient with modern facilities and equipment‎,’’ she said.

    The commissioner added that the ministry had hired consultants to identify the problems and challenges facing education in the state.

    “They are still working on the report and about to submit the draft which we will go through and make any amendment and input before the final report is ready,’’ she said.

    She said that the ministry’s budget performance for 2016 was 44 per cent, adding that the 2017 budget would focus on rehabilitation and renovation of more schools in the state.

    The Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Bako Alfa, and his members ‎cautioned the ministry against reckless spending.

    ‎The committee particularly frowned at the N174 million the ministry spent to engage consultants to transform the educational sector‎.

    It wondered if the ministry lacked technocrats and experts who could do the job of the consultants to save cost given the state’s dwindling revenue base.

  • N869m to be spent on school equipment – Niger state

    Over N869 million will be spent by the Niger government on the procurement of science equipment in nine schools.

    This was announced  by Hajiya Fatima Madugu, Commissioner for Education announced this at the end of the state Executive Council meeting on Thursday in Minna.

    She said that N214 million would be used for procurement of science equipment and solar plant while N655 million is for the provision of furniture, instructional materials and electronics in the schools.

    Madugu added that the effort is to provide qualitative education for students and conducive teaching environment for teachers.

    She said that the schools are; Government Girls Secondary School Bida, Justice Legbo Kutigi Science School in Kutigi, Maryam Babangida Girls School Minna, Government Science College Izom.

    Others are, Government Girls School Kotangora, Government Secondary School Rijau, Government Girls College Tegina, Government Day Secondary Schools Baro and Mu’azu Ibrahim Commercial School Kotangora.