I write to appreciate Nigerians of good will. I have always believed there are many. But I never thought they are so many. God bless you. God bless you.
Within 24 hrs of announcing on my Facebook page and WhatsApp account the Nomadic Vacation Course (NVC) that will hold for 3 weeks in 6 centres in Bauchi State and called on Nigerians within the towns where the centres are located to volunteer as teachers for the program, 514 registered through the link provided—cutting across religion and ethnic divides. Wow! (See the pie chart attached)
These are just four towns in Bauchi State: Azare, Bauchi, Misau and Toro. Think of the number of volunteers that would register if it were in every town or local government headquarters in the state or the nation under a similar program that would mitigate the learning gaps of our children which all of us are so worried about and which authorities have failed to successfully address through conventional means in spite of the money and the human resources available. The numbers of volunteers would be in millions.
I challenge the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, AfDB, USAID, DFID and other donor agencies as well as our NGOs and concerned individuals to pick up the challenge and try it—the unconventional way, not necessarily NVC. I hope the Bauchi NVC experiment, if successful, will convince us that yes, we can.
Meanwhile, all volunteers will converge at their chosen centres this morning at 10.00am to start the intensive 3 day preparation work ahead of the arrival of their nomadic pupils next Tuesday, God willing.
My last fear is the nomads themselves. I hope they will not fail Nigerians by failing to send the children in the numbers they earlier pledged. This is a job cut for Fulbe cultural organization that have volunteered to serve on the program. They have done a fantastic job so far in mobilizing the communities in the past two months. We just hope the communities will keep their words.
We need your prayers for the success of the program. But I will not be tired of saying thank you, thank you, thank you, Nigeria.
Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
Commissioner of Education
Bauchi State
9 April 2022
