Yobe: 170 students, teachers killed, 88 others injured by Boko Haram terrorists – Committee Chair


Deputy Governor Idi Barde Gubana, who is Chairman, Yobe State Education Appeal Fund Raising Committee, said 167 students and three teachers have been killed by Boko Haram insurgents in over a decade-long uprising in the state.

He gave the figures at a media briefing to announce the next stage of fundraising activity scheduled to take place in Abuja next week.

Gubana also said that during the peak of the insurgency, apart from destroying schools’ infrastructures, 86 students and two teachers were seriously injured in several attacks by the insurgents in their futile attempts to eliminate education in the state.

He lamented that since the creation of Yobe State in 1991, successive administrations had made several efforts to develop the education sector with not very encouraging results and this was further compounded by the activities of Boko Haraorists who took arms against the state.

According to him, this prompted the present administration in the state to adopt a multi-faceted approach to address obstacles facing the education sector that were huge threats to stability and socio-economic development, hence the reason behind the declaration of a state of emergency on the education sector by Governor Mai Mala Buni in 2019.

Gubana stated that “Due to scarcity of resources and our ever-growing commitment to put the state in the most appropriate track of speedy and sustainable development well blend with our material endowments, we, therefore, resolved that more funds should be sourced to achieve our objectives.

“The Yobe Education Recovery Appeal Fund and the establishment of Yobe Education Appeal Fund Raising Committee were, therefore, primarily made to gather the resources required from corporate bodies and individuals and ensure judicious utilization to salvage education in line with the recommendations of the Yobe Education Summit”.

On the next stage of the fundraising activity coming on the 10th of February, 2022 in Abuja, he said the funds, when realized, would be used to, among other things, increase access and quality in basic and secondary education; recruit; train and improve welfare packages of teachers for effective teaching and learning.

Idi Barde Gubana, however, appealed to people in the state to continue to pray for peace, unity and prosperity of Yobe State in particular and Nigeria at large