Onaiwu Commends Gov. Lawal for Restoring Hope to Zamfara Students, Slams Past Administrations Over Neglect of Education

Earl Osaro Onaiwu, former DG of the Nigeria’s Governors forum and founding Director-General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum, has commended Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, for what he described as a humane and visionary intervention that has finally brought relief and closure to dozens of Zamfara indigenes whose academic futures had been left hanging for nearly a decade.

Onaiwu was reacting to the presentation of academic certificates to 50 Zamfara students who graduated from Crescent University, Abeokuta, but were unable to access their results for nine years due to unpaid tuition fees owed by the state government under previous administrations.

Crescent University had withheld the students’ results as a result of the outstanding debt.
The Lawal administration intervened, cleared the accumulated fees, and ensured the immediate release of the results and certificates. Among the beneficiaries are a First Class graduate in Chemistry and several Second Class Upper degree holders—young Nigerians whose talents and aspirations had been unjustly stalled.
Describing the development as “a powerful act of restorative leadership,”

Onaiwu said Governor Lawal had not only paid a financial debt, but also “repaid a moral obligation to the youth of Zamfara State.”

“For nine painful years, these young men and women lived in uncertainty, their lives placed on hold through no fault of theirs,” Onaiwu said.

“By resolving this long-standing injustice, Governor Dauda Lawal has put smiles on faces that had known only frustration, dashed hopes and broken promises. This is what responsible governance looks like.”

While praising the governor’s decisive action, Onaiwu did not spare past administrations in Zamfara State, accusing them of gross negligence and a dangerous disregard for human capacity development.

“It is deeply troubling that successive governments could abandon their own students after sending them to university,” he said.

“This is not just administrative failure; it is a betrayal of the future. Education is not a luxury—it is the backbone of development, security and prosperity, especially in Northern Nigeria.”

Onaiwu stressed that the Zamfara case reflects a wider structural problem across the North, where insufficient budgetary allocation to education has continued to undermine youth development, worsen unemployment and fuel social instability.

He called on governors across Northern Nigeria to emulate Lawal’s example by deliberately increasing funding for education, clearing legacy liabilities, and placing youth development at the centre of governance.
“Governor Lawal has shown that leadership is about courage, empathy and priority,”

Onaiwu added. “By investing in education, he is investing in peace, productivity and the long-term stability of Zamfara State. This intervention is clear evidence that his education reforms are not mere rhetoric, but policies with measurable human impact.”

Governor Lawal, while presenting the certificates, reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to education, noting that the move was part of broader reforms aimed at restoring confidence in public institutions and ensuring that no Zamfara child is denied opportunity due to government failure.

For the 50 graduates, the intervention marks the end of a long night and the beginning of renewed possibilities—proof that when leadership aligns with conscience, lives can be transformed and hope restored.