The Northern Girls and the Plea for $100, 000 Award to Yoruba President -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

At a time when many Nigerians think the standard of education has fallen to the level of irredeemability, our daughters from Yobe State proved the notion wrong. They convinced not only us, but the whole world, that in Yobe State where many erroneously think book is haram, is a place to study English grammar. They do not only master the language, they defeated native speakers of the language in the recently concluded Global English Competition. Do not think the competition was held in Nigeria, in which case one may be prompted to say there is “ojoro” in the whole exercise. The competition was held in the UK where English Language was transported to other parts of the world.

If you say the UK is the land of the English language, you’ve spoken the truth; indeed, it’s more than that—it is the spring, fountainhead, and the very cradle of the English language. One of the three Yobeans, Nafisa Abdullahi, outperformed over 20,000 students to emerge the world’s best in English language skills at the 2025 TeenEagle Global Finals held in London, United Kingdom. One would ordinarily think these over 20, 000 participants were selected from some remote villages in Yobe, Maiduguri, Zamfara, and Jigawa. No! They are teenagers with strong proficiency in English Language from 69 different countries. The other two are Rukaiya Fema and Khadija Kalli.

I wonder why the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is yet to address these teenagers. Won’t Trump ask these teenagers where they learnt English Language such that they could speak it so fluently? They learnt it in Nigerian Tulip International College (NTIC). Perhaps Trump is busy investigating how NTIC manipulated the whole exercise to advertise itself. Perhaps he is not convinced that a school in that part of the North could teach so effectively to have such wonderful students. Whether we like NTIC or not because it is in Yobe State, it is a good school. I have taught many students that graduated from NTIC as undergraduates and I have interacted with many of them.

Could it even be why President Tinubu was reluctant to recognize the teenagers’ sterling performance? Though I learnt he finally acknowledged them through a congratulatory statement via an X post by his Special Adviser on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga. He also advised the teenagers to remain steadfast in their studies and wish them continued success. To show the commitment of his administration towards education—being a critical element for national development—he reiterated that he has removed financial barriers for indigent Nigerians seeking higher education through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). If Onanuga actually acted on behalf of Tinubu by his congratulatory post on X and if the post is well understood, it is as if the President is saying the three teenagers should avail themselves of the financial window provided by NELFUND.

In order words, any Nigerian who is interested in schooling or has excelled in education and wishes to excel more, the Government is ready to give him or her loan. For those who do not know the financial aid NELFUND provides, here is the summary. NELFUND pays your school fees directly to your school account and gives you N20, 000 stipend for your monthly upkeep. Be clear, to benefit from NELFUND, you must be admitted into any of the public underfunded universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics. Students who choose to attend well-funded universities are barred by default. Beneficiaries are to repay after graduation. It not clear whether the loan is interest-free or not.

This is the outcome of the thinking of the think-tank of this administration. This is because the regime runs itself through foreign loans, the only way it could help its citizens (students) who are critical elements for national development is also through loans. This explains why the government insists on starving its intellectuals in the Ivory tower by paying them ridiculous peanuts as salaries due to “lack of funds” but offers to give them a survival loan (not prosperity or development loan) to effectively further trap them in debt and entrench their enslavement. Sad!

What is more, the President apparently struggled to congratulate these teenagers. Hence, a newspaper headline reads: “Tinubu FINALLY Congratulates Brilliant Yobe Girl Who Won Global English Prize.” His congratulatory statement came after unrelenting pressure from mesmerized citizens who could not understand the depth of the President’s disdain for education and his love for entertainment. It seems his love for those who entertain him with praise songs like “Ọmọ Ologo” and those who make him shout “it is  a goaaaaaal” has no bound. This could be why football and basketball Champions were given National Awards, Renewed Hope Houses, and billions of naira, but Global Champions of Global English Competition are treated like nonentities with worthless achievements. This is disturbing. Though I reject that message our rulers try to send, but the message is clear: Education is a scam. Entertainment is the way. Failure in JAMB and WAEC is normal. On the debate of whether education is a scam or not, read an article titled “The ‘Education is a Scam’ Debate in Nigeria: A Critical Discourse Analysis” by Muhammad Adam and my humble self. Nigerian government pays lip service to education.

There is  another perspective to the President’s attitude which, if that is true, would even be more unfortunate. That takes an ethnic dimension. It is as if to say the teenagers represented Yobe State, not Nigeria. Put differently, what concerns Yoruba President with Aboki’s achievement? How can the “Aboki’s” compare themselves with those female footballers and basketballers? I don’t think President Tinubu could think or should think like this. But can I defend him? No. Why? His traducers will always argue that he once said he didn’t believe in one Nigeria. That was a long time ago before he became the President. But it will be presidential for the President to pretend that he believes in one Nigeria now that he is President. Thus, these teenagers, though “Aboki” from Yobe State, deserve, at least, $100, 000 each, a three bedroom flat in the Renewed Hope Estate, and National Award.

What should be a good reason for national celebration has unfortunately given wings to ethnic profiling and insult. If the ethnic banter had been lighthearted and humorous, I would have participated, for my love of jokes. One will struggle hard to convince some northerners that what the President have disdain for is education; it is not that he belittles our girls for that feat because they are of northern origin. Yet, one must appreciate those Nigerians (Igbo, Yoruba, Calabar, Itsekiri, etc.) who celebrated these girls, not just being from Yobe, but as good Nigerian ambassadors.

The former vice president, through his foundation, Atiku Abubakar Foundation (AAF) has generously awarded scholarship to these teenagers. The scholarship, as promised, would cover the rest of their secondary school education as well as university studies, at any institution of their choice. Call it eye service, call it political, call it campaign strategy, I don’t care. All I care about is that these teenagers should be appreciated so that others would be encouraged. I have not seen Peter Obi exhibiting his generousness. Obi is very good at things like this. Perhaps he is warming up and planning to see how to celebrate these kids. Criticize him that his spendings are political and that he is too ambitious to become Nigerian president, I don’t care.

Could it also be that President Tinubu has realized that this precedent that he was trying to set by gifting hundreds of thousands of dollars to Nigerians who win trophy of any kind could not be sustainable? This could be a plausible reason. I trust Nigerians, we no dey carry last. If winning a continental or global competition will automatically transform Nigerian participants to accidental millionaires like our Super Falcons, President Tinubu should be ready to splash millions of naira every week.

Whatever plausible reason is given for not rewarding these teenagers remains unreasonable until these teenagers are “extravagantly” rewarded and awarded like the Super Falcons. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Period. The president should act presidentially

Kudos to NTIC, the teachers, and all those that contributed to the success of these girls from Yobe.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com