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From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has flagged off its Education Endowment Fund (EEF) in Gombe targeting 4,953 undergraduates, 102 postgraduates and 42 PhD potential students.
The scholarship scheme which was christened NEDC-EEF is aimed at revitalizing the quality of the education sector which had been worse hammered by activities of the Boko Haram (BH) insurgency in the region. Speaking at the launching of the scheme on Wednesday in Gombe, Hajiya Asmau Mohammed Acting Chairperson of NEDC-EEF Board of Trustee (BoT) stated that the North-East region has suffered a serious setback as a result of the over ten years of the insurgency.
She said: “We are all aware that many schools within the North-East have indeed been destroyed; where a large number of teachers lost their lives and thousands of our youths remained out of School due to internal displacement.
It is in the light of the foregoing that the Management and Board of the NEDC considered it necessary to put in place a special purpose vehicle to address the educational needs of the 6 states of the North-East”.
Asmau who is representing the North-West region in the commission explained that the launch of NEDC-EEF followed its approval by the governing board of the commission in December 2019 and then inaugurated its Board of Trustees in August 2020.
“Since then, the Education Endowment Fund has embarked upon this daunting task through skilful planning and program development in teachers training, resource mobilization, scholarship and grants as well as Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET),” the Chairperson said.
While adding that there will be special projects; which will involve campaigns against drug abuse, cultism as well as the promotion of sports in schools, she further revealed that the plan is to chart a robust support trajectory for the recovery of our decaying education infrastructure and human resource base.
In his speech, the governor of Gombe state, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya who was represented by his Deputy Mannasah Jatau at the launch, commended the NEDC for living up to their mandate in the state. He further pledged the state government’s support to the NEDC to help them complement the state government’s development efforts.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the commission Mohammed Alkali added that the NEDC-EEF is a scholarship award. He said: “The scholarship award will cover all aspects of education both primary schools, health, agriculture.
