Our Background

For over two decades, since inception, Yobe State has had relative calm and peaceful existence, except for isolated cases of environmental, social and security challenges that have inspired moments of disquiet occasionally as is the case with other parts of the north. The last ten (10) years however, beginning from November 2011, things have been different. The period witnessed painful descend to severe insecurity, chaos and collapse of the State’s education system. The attacks on schools was unbearably merciless and senseless. These sorrowful events of mayhem started with Government Secondary School Damaturu in June, 2013 during which 8 students and teacher were killed. As the state capital mourns this gruesome lost, the insurgents invaded another Government Secondary School in July of the same year, this time in Mamudo, Potiskum LGA and slaughtered 29 students in the middle of the night. Again, the terrorists stormed the College of Agriculture in Gujba LGA one night and shot indiscriminately at residents. That night, 40 students were shot dead. Consequently. schools were forced to shut down across the State. On 25th February, 2014, immediately after schools were reopened, 59 students of Federal Government College Buni Yadi were massacred by the insurgents who raided the school in the night. That day, 24 buildings of the school were also burnt down, several teachers and staff were killed while many suffered grievous injuries. On February 19, 2018 Boko Haram also stormed a Government Girls College, in Dapchi and abducted about 110 school girls of between the ages of 11 to 19 years. Boko Haram continued this kind of deadly violence on the state’s most important as well as most vulnerable target. Another unforgettable memory was a Monday morning in November, 2014 when a suicide bomber disguised as a student and detonated explosives that killed 50 and injured 79 others during school assembly at Government Science and Technical College, Potiskum. These are simply the major, out of plethora of incidents in Gujba, Kannamma, Goniri, Buni Yadi, Damagum, Bularafa, Dokshi, and Potiskum, perpetrated by the terror group that resulted in the ultimate deterioration of the education system in the state. His Excellency, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, the Executive Governor of Yobe State, concerned by the rapid deterioration of education in the State; noting also the massive increase of out of school children; the poor performance of students in national examinations and the fear that if left unchecked, the future of the State will be jeopardized; vividly alarmed at the far reaching implications of poor school enrolment; and convinced that decisive action must be taken, declared a state of emergency on Primary and Secondary Education, to build a solid vibrant and robust foundation for the development of education. Consequently, on 1st and 2nd July 2019, the Executive Governor convened a maiden Education Summit to work out strategies to revitalize Basic and Secondary Education in the State. To further demonstrate this commitment, the Executive Governor constituted a Technical Committee to fashion out a strategic plan to rescue the system. On the 16th of January, 2020, the Executive Governor constituted a steering committee to implement the report of the Technical Committee and since then series of efforts are implemented in continuation of the revitalization effort. To keep the revitalization strategies under constant review and to direct desirable actions by relevant institutional units, such as Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS), the Executive Governor on the 20th of February 2021, went further to establish the Yobe State Education Council as an executive organ, with the objective of providing a solid support for the articulate and expeditious implementation of the revitalization plan on Basic and Secondary Education in Yobe State. To mobilize non-treasury sources of funding education in Yobe State, the Executive Governor on 1st November, 2021, constituted the Yobe State Education Appeal Fund Committee under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Governor, Hon. Idi Barde Gubana and tasked to organize a befitting fund-raising events at Damaturu and Abuja. To ensure utmost transparency and for the purpose of entrenching the highest corporate governance practices standard in the management of the funds to be raised, his excellency also constituted a board of trustees and directed their incorporation to stand as an independent legal entity that will collect, manage and judiciously execute the funds in line with the objective of revitalizing Education in Yobe State. The appeal fund committe seeks the support and partnership of every stakeholder in this onerous task to revitalize the education sector in the State through the Yobe State Education Trust Fund – YETFund – established and registered with the corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria. In this regard, the State Government plans to conduct a fund raiser, to raise Twenty-Five (25) Billion Naira that will complement treasury funding in the revitalization of education.