Mubi 1 Primary School Raises ₦100m at 100, Alumni Blame Insecurity on Public Education Collapse

A century-old primary school in northeastern Nigeria, Mubi One Primary School has mobilised ₦100 million to reverse decades of educational decay, as alumni warn that the country’s security crisis stems directly from the collapse of public schooling.

Mubi 1 Primary School Raises ₦100m at 100, Alumni Blame Insecurity on Public Education Collapse

Mubi 1 Primary School Raises ₦100m at 100, Alumni Blame Insecurity on Public Education Collapse

Mubi 1 Primary School Raises ₦100m at 100, Alumni Blame Insecurity on Public Education Collapse

Mubi One Primary School, established in 1926 and ranked among Northern Nigeria’s oldest learning institutions, celebrated 100 years of existence on Monday with a fundraising drive that brought together jurists, traditional rulers and public officials at its Lokuwa Ward campus in Adamawa State.

Former Adamawa Commissioner for Information, Ahmad Sajoh, used the occasion to deliver a stark message: Nigeria’s spiralling insecurity, corruption and social fragmentation are the price of abandoning public education.

“The millions of out-of-school children roaming our streets have become recruitment pools for bandits, insurgents and criminals,” Mr Sajoh said during the centenary lecture. “We destroyed the common ground where rich and poor once sat side by side in classrooms, learning together, building the nation together.”

The gathering launched an endowment fund targeting infrastructure rehabilitation, digital learning facilities and classroom renovations. Chief launcher Abdulrahman Kwacham led contributors in raising the target amount to fence the school compound, drill boreholes, construct an examination hall and equip ICT centres.

Mubi One Primary School traces its roots to British colonial education reforms following Germany’s defeat in Northern Cameroon. The institution opened with junior and senior sections under policies outlined in Sir Hugh Clifford’s 1926 education ordinance, according to Ahmed Abbas, Education Secretary of Mubi North Local Government.

The school’s alumni register reads like a directory of Nigerian leadership. Graduates include Lamido of Adamawa, Barkindo Musdafa; late OPEC Secretary-General Sanusi Barkindo; National Universities Commission Executive Secretary Abdullahi Ribadu; Nigerian Law School Director-General Isa Chiroma; Court of Appeal Justice AbdulAziz Hassan; and former Adamawa Governor Bindow Jibrilla.

Justice Hassan, who chaired the ceremony, described the institution as “the foundation where leaders learned to lead and citizens learned their place in building something larger than themselves.”

Mr Sajoh challenged the gathering to rethink education priorities. “Certificates mean nothing anymore. Skills, digital literacy and character now determine who survives in this world. We must stop producing graduates who cannot create anything or solve anything.”

The Emir of Mubi, Abubakar Ahmadu, sent a representative who commended organisers for channelling the anniversary towards educational development rather than ceremonial festivities.

Organisers presented awards to families of pioneer pupils and surviving teachers, honouring a century of service in a school that once represented what public education could achieve when properly funded and maintained.

The event underscored a broader conversation about Nigeria’s educational infrastructure, where public schools that once educated the country’s elite now struggle with basic facilities whilst private institutions absorb children from families who can afford alternatives.