Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto
The Sokoto State Government has recruited 500 unemployed youths for refuse evacuation in the state capital. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alhaji Aminu Dodo-Iya, disclosed this in Sokoto while addressing newsmen after the conduct of a recent monthly environmental sanitation exercise.
He said the youths had been redeployed across Sokoto metropolis to evacuate filth. “These youths will continuously operate to rid the city and its environs of filth and they will be used for daily clearance and evacuation of refuse in the city,” he said.
He disclosed that the state government had purchased 30 specialised refuse evacuation tricycles in that regard. The permanent secretary however, decried the nonchalant attitude of the residents towards the exercise, saying the state government would henceforth wield the big stick by using the tribunals.
“This is to force the residents to ensure personal and environmental hygiene, to keep diseases at bay,’” Dodo-Iya stressed.
In a remark, the Director-General of the Sokoto Central Market, Alhaji Abdullahi Bafarawa, said the management of the market had mobilised its personnel to clear the market and its environs of refuse.
Meanwhile, a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Prof. A’isha Madawaki, has advocated improved funding for girl-child education.
Speaking at a recent stakeholders’ forum in Sokoto, Madawaki said such funding was required for the establishment of more girl schools, which should be adequately funded. According to her, such schools should be properly equipped and staffed in order to achieve the desired targets.
“There is the need to ensure that more girls are enrolled in schools, at all levels. Steps should also be taken to ensure their retention and completion of their studies,” she said, and urged parents to ensure their enrolment in schools, while they should be allowed to complete their studies.
In a remark, the State Chairperson of a group, High Level Women Advocates (HILWA), Hajiya Kulu Sifawa, said the members of the group were serving as role models for women and girl-children in the state.
Sifawa, who is also the State Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, explained that the group was contributing resources towards girl-child education.
The commissioner who was represented by her predecessor, Hajiya Kuluwa Nuhu, posited that poverty and illiteracy were some of the factors inhibiting girl-child education. She disclosed that the 2015/2016 annual schools census conducted by the Ministry of Education indicated the huge gap in the 2011 enrolment in primary schools across the state.
“Enrolment stood at 712,619, with 436,547 boys and 276,072 girls, 61 per cent to 39 per cent ratio while transition stood at 14,066, with 11,749 boys and 2,317 girls, 83 per cent to 17 per cent ratio”.
The commissioner averred that, the foregoing statistics revealed that the gender gap was wide, stressing that this required an urgent attention and actions by all stakeholders to reverse the ugly trend.
