For decades, two questions have lingered across Zamfara North Senatorial District: why is the zone the only one without a state-owned tertiary institution in the state? And why did successive governments fail to establish even a single one of the state’s seven tertiary institutions in the zone?
An analysis of the distribution of state-owned tertiary institutions across the state shows that out of seven institutions, three are located in Zamfara West, four in Zamfara Central, and none in Zamfara North.
Many concerned citizens from Zamfara North have spoken out against this sense of unfair treatment and perceived marginalization through different channels. This writer was part of that agitation, having come from the zone and served then as the Publicity Secretary of the Zamfara North Senatorial Development Forum (ZANSEDEF).
The agitation boiled over in 2022 when a letter from the Federal Ministry of Education proposing a Federal Science and Technical College in Zamfara North surfaced online. It escalated when attempts were made to relocate the proposed institution to another part of the state, against the recommendation from the FMOE. But that is a bye gone.
The corrective steps being taken by the Dauda Lawal’s administration to address the decades long imbalance by establishing a tertiary institution in Zamfara North is worthy of commendation. This week, precisely on Monday 20 July, the Zamfara State Executive Council approved contracts worth N3.3bn for the construction of the take-off structures for the College of Nursing Sciences in Zurmi LGA, Zamfara North.
