8th March, 2014
The northern Nigerian state of Sokoto said it has abolished the indigene and non-indigene policy in the state, a means of discriminating against Nigerians in their own country.
It said it has also deleted the nomenclature from the official language and communication in correspondences within the (civil) service.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Danladi Bako, made these known in a statement he issued in Sokoto on Saturday.
Sokoto will be the first state in northern Nigeria to abolish the policy.
Bako also said in the statement that the State Government commenced free education for all residents of the state in 2007.
The statement stressed that the free education policy covered primary and secondary schools and all residents, irrespective of their state of origin.
It pointed out that Gov. Aliyu Wamakko had been recognised by many local and international organisations for his strides in developing the education sector.
“He always restates his firm belief that the fastest and most assured route to a nation’s growth and development is through the provision of quality education from primary to the tertiary level’’, it emphasised.
The statement revealed that school enrolment had increased by 300 per cent in the last five years, while registration for JAMB and NECO examinations rose by 500 per cent in the state.
It added that the trend had led to increase in the number of students in institutions in Nigeria and overseas like Malaysia, United Arab Emirate, England and Sudan.