19 vehicles were also seized from the terrorists who attacked Damboa, a town which is 85 kilometers away from Maiduguri, Borno State.

A member of the Civilian JTF and a member of Vigilance group that supported the troops lost their lives in the encounter.

Two women were also said to have died as a result of stray bullets.

The Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, who confirmed the encounter applauded the Nigerian troops for the gallantry displayed.

In a statement he issued on Thursday, the governor said the terrorists met a far more determined and battle-ready military.

His statement reads:  “‎I find it compelling to salute our gallant soldiers of the Nigerian Army and Air Force, under operation Lafiya Dole for a decisive blow against Boko Haram insurgents on Wednesday morning in Damboa town. At about 6 a.m. yesterday, squads of the insurgents cleverly attacked Damboa from different directions, believing their ambush was going to succeed in overrunning the town.

“Unfortunately for the insurgents, they met a far more determined and battle-ready military. Soldiers of the army fought from the ground, the Air force quickly deployed fighter jets while volunteers in the Civilian JTF and Vigilantes complemented them.

“At the first stage, they destroyed 13 fighting vehicles after killing scores of insurgents, who drove on them.

“What I find even more impressive, was that after the insurgents retreated due to defeat, the military did not stay back, they remobilized and took the war to the fleeing insurgents and in the process, killed more insurgents and destroyed six more fighting vehicles, bringing to 19, the number of vehicles destroyed.

“The insurgents were deprived of and we know what one vehicle used for fighting means to the Boko Haram, talk more of 19.

“I salute our ground and air forces. I salute our volunteers who supported the military. I salute two volunteers, one each of the Civilian JTF and Vigilantes who paid the supreme price in trying to defend Borno and Nigeria. I commiserate with families of two women who died from stray bullets and wish those who sustained injuries a speedy recovery.

“I assure the people of Borno State that so much is being put in place in the combined and very resolute effort to bring an end to the Boko Haram insurgency. By the power of God, the insurgency will eventually end and we shall regain our enduring peace and prosperity.”

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Suddenly, the wave of euphoria sparked across the social media by the story of Madam Obiageli Mazi of Shehu Sanda Kyarimi 2 Primary School, Borno State, has vanished, no thanks to the tragic massive attack launched on the state Monday night by the so-called technically defeated Boko Haram insurgents. The attack left 30 people dead, 18 vehicles burnt and several women and children abducted, according to the state government spokesperson, Ahmad Abdurrahman Bundi.

Prior to the Monday attack, a viral video had shown Mazi’s encounter with Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, during the governor’s unscheduled visit to Kyarimi 2 primary school at around 6.30am last Friday. The governor was in the school as part of activities to assess public institutions in the state. Somehow, Mazi was the only teacher on duty at the time of the governor’s visit.

Surprised to find Mazi already in school, waiting for her pupils that early morning, the governor was visibly impressed, so he decided to reward Mazi for her dedication to duty, hard work and diligence.  He gave her N100, 000, a sum about three times her monthly salary of N35, 000 and also instructed the state Universal Education Board to promote her to the position of Assistant Headmistress.  That was not all. A few days later, the governor’s aide presented a cheque of N1m said to have been contributed by some people in the state to the Abia State indigene. This was a huge reward for Mazi who had been teaching in Sanda Kyarimi 2 Primary School for 31 years.

Expectedly, many Nigerians poured heaps of encomiums on the Borno State governor, with some going to the extent of describing him as Nigeria’s best governor.  Others even introduced ethnic dimension to Zulum’s gesture.  They argued that it was particularly a big deal for a Northern governor to recognise and reward a teacher from the south -eastern region of Nigeria.  While I am not in any way against rewarding Mazi for her diligence, I find it funny that a single act of promoting an individual for being found on duty early in the morning could make a governor merit the best governor’s award. Nigerians are probably some of the easiest people in the world to please. They have been through a lot of suffering, so any little thing impresses them.

For someone to invest that number of years in schooling and still earn less than $100 per month after being on the job for 31 years is unbelievable.

Honestly, I was expecting people to express their anger and dissatisfaction with a system that pays a teacher who has been on the job for 31 years a meagre N35, 000 per month. Roughly speaking, Madam Mazi and others in her shoes, must have invested a minimum of 16 years in schooling before qualifying for the National Certificate of Education. For someone to invest that number of years in schooling and still earn less than $100 per month after being on the job for 31 years is unbelievable.

Nigeria’s precarious situation is better understood when one considers what teachers in other parts of the world are being paid.   An average school teacher in the US, for instance, earns around $40,000 per annum. As a matter of fact, teachers in the country’s public schools earn far more than that going by the most recent estimates from the National Education Association, which puts the number of teachers in the US at more than three million with public teachers earning an average salary of $58,353.  Despite this, Americans still believe teaching is an underpaid profession. You can’t blame them. There are professionals in the country that earn as much as   $300,000 per annum. In fact, hundreds of teachers across America are said to be leaving the profession due to lack of pay. I wonder what these folks would say if confronted with the fact that an average teacher in Nigeria earns less than $1,000 per annum.   In Switzerland, teachers’ average salary is about $69,705; in Germany, it is $61,418; Norway, $47,313; and Denmark, $46,784.

Of course this is not to say that Nigerian teachers should earn what their counterparts in Denmark or Switzerland earn; the statistics are just aimed at providing an insight into how incredible Nigeria’s situation is in comparison with global trend. We don’t need any special analyst to know that there is everything fundamentally wrong with a system that pays people whose job makes the world a better place such a pittance. As far as I am concerned, such system is cruel, unwholesome and should be urgently trashed.  Agreed that the Borno State governor did well by rewarding Madam Mazi for what he thinks is his own way of measuring diligence, competence and hard work.  How many individuals can the governor reach out to? There is a possibility of hundreds of the likes of Madam Mazi all over Borno schools on the day of the governor’s visit.   The governor is limited as a human being in that he can’t be everywhere at the same time. This is the more reason why there should be a well-established system that would not require any human presence before teachers could get the right financial rewards not only in Borno State, but across Nigeria. The government should be ready to pay the market price for teachers otherwise it will continue to pay for scraps.

Aside this, our policy makers should work on formulating policies that will make it possible for good teachers to be rewarded and at the same time hold the bad ones accountable for their misdeeds. It is an aberration to rely on a governor’s magnanimity to get a teacher promoted   in this age and time. We need to start building high- quality and well motivated teachers who can in turn energise and motivate their students. Doing this will never come cheap!

Aside this, our policy makers should work on formulating policies that will make it possible for good teachers to be rewarded and at the same time hold the bad ones accountable for their misdeeds.

Borrowing the words of Peter Temin, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as with used cars, a small salary increase cannot guarantee the quality of aspiring teachers; only a dramatic increase can attract the right candidates to the fold. In essence, providing adequate remuneration for teachers is very important if Nigeria is truly serious about making headway in its educational sector. You can’t have teachers as engines of quality education, inspiring students for greatness if they themselves are neither inspired nor economically fit to provide for their family’s upkeep and general welfare.

To start with, Nigeria’s teachers’ salary scale should be radically reviewed. The 2016 World Bank report has rightly established a link between lack of education, poverty and insurgency in the North, especially in the North-East and North-West. The easiest way out of Nigeria’s security and poverty challenges is to  increase enrolment in school which will depopulate the army of bandits in the north and institute a competitive reward system for teachers so that they can deliver quality education at all levels.

*Deji-Folutile is the Editor-in-Chief of Franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email bisideji@yahoo.co.uk

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The 86km road was closed to motorists in 2015 at the peak of Boko Haram activities in the Northern part of the state.

Governor Babagana Zulum, accompanied by the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj.-Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, and the General Officer Commanding 7 Division Operation Lafiya Dole, Brig.-Gen. Abdul Khalifa, reopened the road.

Zulum, in his remark, commended the Nigerian military for its successes in degrading ‘Boko Haram’ insurgents that had been terrorising people in the state.

He said that the reopening of the road would resuscitate socio-economic activities, especially fishing businesses, crippled in the Lake Chad region.

He explained that motorists travelling on the road would move freely to their destination without military escort following improved security.

Zulum stated that the government was also consulting with the military to ensure that travellers on the Ngala and Kala Balge roads moved without being escorted.

He warned members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), and other unions against extorting commuters on the highway.

“Everybody in Borno is aware of what is going on the highways. It is not something new and our presence here is not to vindicate anybody.

“The Nigerian law does not prohibit the transportation of goods within the state. So, you cannot ask a driver to pay money for transporting sachet water anywhere within the state.

“How can you transport pure water and tomatoes and you are ask to pay N19, 000 for a six-tyre vehicle.

“This government and the people will fight to see an end to these activities in Borno,” he said.

He said that the government would regulate activities of  lorries and trucks in the state.

While donating six patrol vehicles to the Nigerian military in Mafa, Zulum said the gesture was in an effort to compliment the federal government’s effort to curtail insurgency.

Speaking earlier, Adeniyi warned that any driver who gives money at any check point would be arrested and prosecuted.

He also warned the officials of the NURTW against imposing unnecessary charges and levies on commuters thereby exposing them to untold hardship.

“It is generally known that it is very difficult for business to thrive if there is no peace and security. It is also a known fact that Boko Haram is using some of the fishing businesses to fund their campaign of terror,” he said.

Adeniyi said that the military was ready to provide enabling environment for the fishing activities to thrive, but warned that under no circumstances should the community pay money, assistance or gratification to the Boko Haram.

“If we find you collaborating with Boko Haram or giving them gratification secretly, we will stop you from doing the fishing activities,” he warned.

Also speaking, Alhaji Bello Moduganari, the Borno NURTW Chairman, and Alhaji Abacha Mandala, the Chairman of Fish Farmers Association of Nigeria, commended the government for reopening of the road.

Moduganari assured the government of the union’s cooperation to the military’s counter insurgency operations.

Mandala also said that the re-opening of the road would revamp fishing activities and provide livelihood to millions of fishermen in the state.

Source: NAN

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The governor on the presidential delegation to the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) in Yokohama, Japan, got a goodwill message from the president.

Buhari wished him good health, long life, and strength to serve his people dutifully, having been inaugurated as governor last May 29.

Professor Zulum, an academic and politician, holds a Ph.D in Soil and Water Engineering, and was Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement under the Kashim Shettima administration.

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