By Hon Tijjan K. Kwaghei

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made the right choice of appointing Prof Tahir Mamman as Nigeria's 47th minister of education, he certainly was not unaware of the platitude of choosing a square peg that fits the square hole perfectly.

The country's education landscape has been replete with monumental challenges, ranging from poor funding, decrepit and deteriorating infrastructure, obsolete teaching and learning materials, wave of brain drain, sex scandals, misappropriation of funds, lack of grants for research, poor welfare conditions for teachers, unsafe school environment, abduction of students and their teachers, and incessant industrial actions by tertiary institutions that have become a ritual.

Tahir Mamman, a professor of law, Senior Advocade of Nigeria-SAN, one-time director general of Nigerian law school and immediate past vice chancellor of Baze University, has since taken the gauntlet by hitting the ground running with policies that are already changing the nation's education trajectory.

Given his vast knowledge in the field of education, coupled with his wealth of experience and expertise in law, and education administration, added to his untainted record in the service of his fatherland, Nigerians expect no less from Prof Mamman.

Pundits have continued to hail the appointment of Prof Tahir Mamman OON, as minister of education by President Bola Tinubu as "well deserved and a welcome development for the education sector".

Friends, associates, and colleagues in the academia and the legal profession describe Mamman as an upright man with impeccable character, wisdom, selflessness, diligence, dynamism, patriotism, and with a lot of experience and expertise to bear on the education sector. This is true considering the minister’s antecedence as a legal luminary of international repute, proven prowess as an educationist par excellence and a political juganout.

Mamman rose through the ranks of the academia to reach his present rung on the ladder of success – LL.B from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, called to the Nigerian Bar in the Nigeria Law School Lagos, Masters Degree, University of Warwick, England and a PhD from the same university. All in the field of law.

He was a lecturer, Faculty of Law University of Maiduguri, head of department Common Law University of Maiduguri, dean Faculty of Law and dean, Students Affairs University of Maiduguri, director general Nigeria Law School Lagos and Vice Chancellor of Baze University in Abuja, as well as member, Governing Board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Prof Tahir Mamman also served as member, National Universities Commission, member, Local Government Election Petition Tribunal, Adamawa State, adviser/part-time consultant of Adamawa, Borno, Yobe States Houses of Assembly, Member, Steering Committee for the Establishment of Adamawa State University Mubi, External Examiner Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Patron, Youth Federation of Nigeria and Nigeria Youth Organisation University of Maiduguri.

He also belongs to many professional bodies such as: Member, Body of Benchers, Council on Legal Education, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria Association of Law Teachers, Common Wealth Legal Education Association, Centre for Computer Legal Instruction USA, National Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria, United Kingdom Centre for Legal Education, African Network for Constitutional Lawyers, International Bar Association, Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN), as well as Member, Governing Board of International Association of Law Schools Washington, DC.

In 2015, armed with a vision to revamp the infrastructure deficit of Adamawa state, he presented himself to contest for the office of governor under the banner of the ruling APC. In 2019, he contested for Adamawa north senatorial district comprising Madagali, Michika, Mubi-north, Mubi-south and Maiha local government areas.

With his wealth of experience, Prof Tahir Mamman is no stranger in the firmament and power play of Nigerian politics. He served as chairman of the committee on the drafting of the present constitution of the APC. As a member of NEC north-east and acting national vice chairman north-east in the national caretaker/extra ordinary convention planning committee of the APC, Mamman was able to reconcile aggrieved members of the party, bringing them back. As a result of his reconciliatory efforts, he was able to bring back to APC the likes of Senator Abdulaziz Murtala Nyako, one time Senator of Adamawa central, who defected to ADC to contest for the seat of governor. This is a plus to APC and a credit to the Michika born minister of education, Dan Ruwata Adamawa and the Dokaji Mubi.

Prof Mamman, who was instrumental to the establishment of Nigeria Law School campus in Yola, is fully aware of the expectations of Nigerians and the education policy thrust of the Tinubu administration. That's why he did not mince words nor did he equivocate in his inaugural speech as minister of education, when he called for collaboration and support from officials of the ministry to move the education sector in the country to a higher pedestal.

Mamman proclaimed that his work ethic was like that of a “bricklayer”, whose vision of a building starts with mounting bricks upon bricks until a desired structure is achieved. Prof Mamman said, “Our president and the entire citizens expect us to deliver. For me, I work like a bricklayer. Everyday the bricklayer goes to site, the foreman gives him blocks to lay and at the end of the day he wants to see the building come up, and within six months, the house is built. We have to have measurable system. The expectation is huge and our president is committed to tackling these problems and I enjoin everyone to be part of the team.”

Ever since that inaugural speech, the astute lawyer has not rested on his oars as he swiftly sprang into action to deal with the enormous tasks before him.
Indeed, the expectations are huge for the 69-year-old minister, more importantly when it comes to Nigeria’s higher education sector, which has experienced misfortunes for years, yet has often been identified as one of the key sectors that can boost the country’s economic development. Mamman is unrelenting in fulfilling the president’s higher education plans in line with the renewed hope agenda of the administration.

At the 2023 Nigeria Annual Education Conference, the education minister reiterated that the Tinubu administration would grant full autonomy to universities, including the power to source funding through various means to enable them meet their financial obligations.

“President Bola Tinubu has publicly declared his commitment to overhaul the education sector as a matter of priority. It is, therefore, important that the federal ministry of education and all stakeholders in the sector work together to see this vision come true. The days of long declarations are over. This time, we must walk the talk,” Punch reported Mamman as saying.

With unwavering support from the minister of state, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, a template that would define a strategic road map for the education sector is being developed and will soon be unfolded. But while working on the template, strategic actions are being taken to walk the talk.

To kick-start the journey, government has raised the budgetary allocation to education sector from paltry five percent to 25 percent, in line with Tinubu's renewed hope agenda that places education as a major priority.

Through the ministry of education, the administration has fashioned out a new creative means of funding tertiary education by granting universities the autonomy to explore new sources of financing their activities. The federal ministry of education is also giving robust attention to the foundations of the education system, that is basic and secondary schools, with a view to ensuring that knowledge and skills were sufficient in all strata of education from basic to university, to ensure students could easily be contributors to the economy without having to look for salaried employments.

Prof Mamman has proved time and again that the halmark of a selfless leader are his penchant for integrity, transparency and accountability, which is why his colleagues in the academia are entertaining no fear over the proposed Students Loans Fund, which will soon take off.

Strategies and methods with time lines, are being worked out to ensure that the scourge of out of school children is completely solved, as infrastructure, modern learning and teaching facilities, as well as condusive environment for students and teachers are receiving urgent attention.

Prof Mamman has traversed the murky waters of Nigerian politics, navigated the labyrinth of Nigerian legal tapestry and sat on numerous tables of reconciliation and negotiation.
In terms of industrial harmony between the federal government and university lecturers, Prof Mamman is the needed nexus, leveraging his vast knowledge, experience and expertise. Little wonder then there is mum on our university campuses around the country. The incessant industrial actions by Academic Staff Unions of Universities, that had been a recurring decimal, is being jettisoned and would soon become part of history, and the country's battered education sector would witness better days.

Hon Tijjani K Kwaghe
Wrote from Abuja
© 2024
Tel: 0803 588 5496