By Idris Auwal
In a statement to the press today, the Public Relations Officer of the Council of Almajiri Schools of Kaduna state, Aliyu Jibril, and the former chairman of Panteka Market, Shehu Sulaiman Gujjiya, advised distractors within the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and journalists to shun all acts of defaming the prudent character of Professor Idris M. Bugaje.
The statement from the Council of Almajiri Schools of Kaduna state followed the recent attack on Professor Idris M. Bugaje’s character by the ICIR newspaper in its one-sided and unverified story titled “NBTE Executive Secretary under fire over multimillion Naira fraud allegation.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Council of Almajiri Schools, Kaduna, and the Council of Almajiri schools, Kaduna State Government, said that Professor Idris M. Bugaje has been a prudent and uncorruptible administrator who has devoted himself to the development of Nigeria and cannot stand at akimbo looking at people with negative interest to distract him from discharging his national assignment at the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE.
“Professor Idris Bugaje has no record of corruption in NILEST, Federal Polytechnic Nassarawa, Kaduna Polytechnic, Ahmadu Bello University, and Malaysia, where he worked as a lecturer,” the PRO said.
“To all of us, Professor Idris M. Bugaje is a good personality and incorruptible individual who sacrifices his time and talent for the development of Nigeria and Nigerians through skills development with his own resources.
“In 2021, during the time the Kaduna State Government wanted to ban the Almajiri system of education, Professor Idris M. Bugaje advised the government to train the Almajiri with skills to contribute to the development of the nation rather than abolish the system. We are now witnessing progressive development in Kaduna state and Nigeria, and no almajiri and the people within our Council will ever forget this generosity” the PRO said.
“Through the skills empowerment program he started at Kaduna Polytechnic, we have at least 100 almajiri pupils who are now independent in different skills jobs ranging from carpentry, painting, welding, plumbing, wiring, tailoring, and others,” Aliyu explained.
“As a patriotic and nationalist educationist, we perceive the allegation of corruption linked to Professor Bugaje as a means to distract him from the good works he is doing for the country and out-of-school children. Those making that allegation may be people who were prevented from doing something wrong within the NBTE. From all of us, we only know the good acts of Professor Idris M. Bugaje, not his faults, and this is what every good citizen of Nigeria knows him for.”
“For the sake of the law, we advise the NBTE to unmask the distractors and punish them accordingly for violating the rules of the civil service,” the council PRO added.
However, the PRO advised those behind the allegation to trust God and do what is right at all times because of the day of judgment.
“God is the one who elevates those he wants, and no one can bring those He lifted down,” Aliyu preached.
In another response, the former Chairman of Panteka Market, Kaduna, Alhaji Sulaiman Gurjiya, charged journalists to always respect the rule of law in discharging their responsibilities of serving the nation, to avoid the wrath of the law.
The former Chairman, who said he knows Professor Bugaje from when he was the Rector of Kaduna Polytechnic, recalled that at the time the Kaduna state government wanted to demolish the market, he advised the government to remodel the market for its benefit to the people, and this is what we are witnessing under the governorship of Senator Uba Sani.
“We always say that if Nigeria had three Professor Idris M. Bugaje’s, the problem of unemployment through skills would be solved. He is the pioneer of almajiri empowerment. He secured 15 Quality Assessors and 2 Internal Verifiers for Panteka marketers, which we never had before. Because of his concern on Panteka Market development we named a skill centre after his name; Professor Bugaje Skills and Poverty Alleviation Center, Old Panteka, Kaduna,” Gurjiya said.