The Periscope Reporter
The Nigerian First Lady, Dr. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, has trained and registered 639 out-of-school children to sit for 2020 JAMB, WAEC and NECO examinations in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria.
Dr Nasiru Sani, the Lead Project Coordinator of the Future Assured Foundation’s Youths Educational Empowerment Programme, disclosed this Saturday, in an interview with NAN on Saturday in Yola.
Sani said that the Future Assured Foundation was initiated and funded by the First Lady.
“The Youths Educational Empowerment Programme was initiated by Mrs Aisha Buhari in 2017.
“The core objective of the programme is to support the less privileged and out-of-school students in Adamawa to further their education.
“In late 2019, the programme registered 750 qualified students and after three months of intensive training, about 639 successful students were registered for 2020 JAMB, WAEC and NECO examinations,” Sani said.
Sani revealed that the idea of the programme was to support dropped-out school children and those that finished secondary schools but have no capacity to further their education.
Sani stated that among the objectives of the programme was to complement the government’s educational efforts.
Dr. Muhammed Yusuf, the Lead Consultant of the Training Programme, told NAN that the programme started with only 50 students in 2017 in two Local Government Areas of the state, Yola South and Yola North.
“Following the successful implementation of the youth educational programme recorded in previous years, the wife of the President decided to expand the programme to cover additional qualified students across the state.
”Now we have about 750 students from three Senatorial zones who are receiving intensive tutorial training on sciences and art subjects in preparation for the 2020 JAMB, WAEC and NECO examinations,” Yusuf said.
Yusuf explained that the primary focus of the programme was the girl-child and that all students were given free electronic gadgets (Tablet) for the training.
Other than the coaching and paying examinations fees for the indigent students, Future Assured has also trained over 50 students in language, media, public speaking and event management. This is in addition to other skills acquisition programmes for self-reliance.
Future Assured has also invested in infrastructural developments in schools and hospitals.
Aliyu Mustapha College Yola where the First Lady attended her secondary school has got such infrastructural boost.
Federal Medical Centre FMC Yola has got a state-of-the-art purposely built and fully equipped maternity complex.
Rehabilitation of state specialist hospital, Yola is aggressively is ongoing; a Future Assured intervention.
“Dr. Aisha Muhammadu Buhari the first lady isn’t only bold in addressing seemingly shortchanged issues, she equally brings succour to the insurgents in the country and particularly indigenes of Adamawa as much as she supports progress and development of the state. We remain grateful to her,” Usman a benefit of Aisha Buhari’s intervention said.