The Yobe State Education Trust Fund has appealed to those who made pledges of financial contributions to redeem them in the interest of educational development of the state.
Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar, the Chairman of the fund, made appeal on Friday after inspection of some projects across the state.
He said the target was to raise N25 billion. After the fundraiser, the committee had pledges of N12 billion.
“A couple of months after the fundraising and follow-ups, we realised about N1.6 billion that could be used for supporting education in the state,” he said.
He said a pledges as gentleman’s pronouncement, was a word of honour. It is not a debt.
“So, if somebody made a pledge he should actually redeem it.
“Sometimes some redeem the pledge gradually, some do that all at once. The bottom line is fulfilment,” he added.
Abubakar explained that the purpose of the committee was to invest the money realised as donation to carry out the intended works.
“So typically we invested N1.4 billion and got a yield from the treasury bills of certain amount of money, which we targeted into what we are doing now, ” he added.
Some of the activities being executed, according to him, include getting furniture for schools, construction of toilet facilities, drilling boreholes, water sanitation, rehabilitation of schools among others.
While thanking those who had redeemed their pledges, he expressed satisfaction with the projects he inspected across various schools in the state.
“We were careful about who we entrust for the responsibility of carrying out these works. We go for those who are professional in that area,” he said.
The Chairman added that about 20 schools had so far benefited from the intervention of the committee.
He called on the stakeholders to ensure aggressive drive for enrollment of school children in the state. (NAN)
