*President commissions new primary school named after VP in Maiduguri
* State Govt honours Osinbajo months after he builds free ultra modern boarding school in the State
Not many know why the Borno State Government led by Governor Kashim Shettima named a public primary school after Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the last week. Some think it’s simply because he is the Vice President of Nigeria but there is more to this than we think, it’s the special bond he shares with the state and its people.
Given that Prof. Osinbajo likes to carry himself in a private and quiet way, not wanting accolades or recognitions as a public office holder and as a nationalist, some of these things go unnoticed locally and internationally but he has written his name in the sands of time through never mentioned charitable acts.
For starters, some observers say the naming of the School by the State Government after the Vice President is a reflection of Prof Osinbajo's passion for the North East especially Borno, where he has also privately raised funds and built a big ultra modern boarding School to address the growing number of children who became orphans as a result of the insurgency in that part of the country.
While the boarding school the VP raised funds to build has possibly thousands of children in both primary and secondary school classes, the new school built by the government and opened by the President on Thursday is only for primary students. However both the private school built by Osinbajo and the public one by the government are free.
As acting President in 2017, Prof. Osinbajo in defiance of security fears and expertise advise visited Borno state a day after a Boko Haram attack. Many Nigerians at the time said it was not safe to do this but he showed that service and commitment to Borno and Nigeria goes beyond mouthing it.
He paid a one-day working visit to Maiduguri, Borno state capital. During that visit, he flagged-off the distribution of 30,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), in the north-east. Coincidentally, this was a time when food shortages at the IDP camps were at its crescendo. He fast tracked funds to be released immediately for food and other items needed at the time, he acted following a SOS call by the World Food Programme, UNHCR, International Committee of the Red Cross and other local agancies.
His action saved millions of people and the people did not forget that in a hurry. They saw his hands-on approach of the VP as not only timely and life-saving but as one of a true leader. Only God knows, if one of those saved by this intervention will be the President of Nigeria someday.
But that was not the only time he had visited Borno or the IDP camps. In 2015, when he paid a similar hands-on meeting to the North East state, many people including the media labeled it a “Surprise Visit To Displaced Persons Camp” and that was rightly so because the Vice President was not doing it for showmanship.
In 2018, he paid yet another visit to the state to the flagship center of the special schools for children orphaned by the Boko Haram Insurgency in Maiduguri. He raised funds for this school to be built for both primary and secondary school students, and were they elated when they saw him? Yes, they were in heavens, the also showed their gratitude that they could study in a world class school for FREE, it’s the goal of the government and the goal of the man.
The plan of the Vice President is to establish at least 10 Integrated Learning Centres (ILC) that would provide comprehensive support to orphans in the North East of Nigeria. The Learning Centers are no ordinary buildings – they are homes of hope; to heal, to educate, to empower, and to refine the next generation of leaders from the region, and for the region.
The flagship Learning Centre provides 1000 students with primary and secondary School education and there is a vocational training centre too. In addition, it provides accommodation, health care services, recreational activities, life skills, exposure to innovative technology, opportunity to practice agriculture and other easy-to-learn livelihood skills for the older children.
The Vice President has a special place in the hearts of people from Borno State. They see him as one of theirs, they say he understands them and has been there for them when they needed him but because he is not one to blow his trumpet some of his acts go unnoticed.
He is doing this specifically in states affected by the Boko Haram attacks, the North East specifically where students have been forced out of school because of terrorism.
By Seun Bisuga
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