AUN Gives Hope to IDPs, Says Peace Initiatives Kept Yola Safe
In addition to its teaching, research and community service functions, the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Adamawa State has been providing food for more than 200,000 internally displaced persons in the state, among other peace initiatives to
Not only is the American University of Nigeria (AUN) the only American style university in SubSaharan Africa, its mission of becoming Africa’s premier development university is one of its distinguishing features. Its location in Adamawa State, one of the north-eastern states in Nigeria currently grappling with the negative effects of the activities of insurgents has further made it to reinvent itself.
Apart from other initiatives that the university introduced to engage vulnerable youths in the state so as to curb insurgency, the institution is feeding more than 200,000 internally displaced persons, who seek refuge in Yola with extended family members.
According to the President, Professor, Margee Ensign, the relief effort started since last year when internally displaced persons, who left their homes in Borno State and Mubi, Michika in Adamawa State as a result of Boko Haram attacks started streaming into Yola for refuge.
Ensign, who said the university distributes food items like maize, beans, and rice, added, “in October last year, we had about 4,000 women at the St. Theresa Cathedral in Yola. In January, 2015, we were feeding 237,941 people. It is unfortunately up to 270,000 now.”
She said Yola’s initial 300,000 IDPs have since increased to 400,000 following Boko Haram attacks on Mubi. “Out of this number, AUN is taking care of about 279,000 people, which is pretty huge, feeding that number of people. All of our students and faculty are involved. We do about four food distributions a week now. Government takes care of about 15,000 IDPs in the camps, but does nothing about the almost 300,000 outside the camps.”
Asked how the university generates funds for the feeding, she said the founder, Atiku Abubakar is committed to the humanitarian activity and provides funds for the university whenever the need arises. She said she also received $100,000 from US Agency for International Development (USAID) and $200,000 from the founder, as well as other contributions.
The president said AUN is also taking care of 21 girls from Chibok who escaped from the hands of Boko Haram after the insurgents attacked their school last year, adding that the girls are undergoing special studies to prepare them for WAEC exams.
She expressed delight that the girls are making progress physically and academically and are eager to improve themselves so that they could go back home and make an impact.
“When you ask them what who they want to be, they always answer that they want to become doctors so that they can go back to Chibok and improve healthcare for women. Or, they can say, I want to be a teacher so that I can go back and teach the children. They want to go and give back to the society after getting such a great education.”
Before the issue of insurgency in the state, she said the university, in an effort to ensure peaceful coexistence, had established the AUNAdamawa Peace Initiative (API) in January 2012 during the petrol subsidy strike in the country. “On January 10, 2012, AUN President and the then Chairman of the AUN Board, Ahmed Joda gathered many prominent local Muslims and Christian leaders, traditional rulers and business and NGO leaders from the Yola community for a discussion. After three hours of deliberation, the Adamawa Peace Council (later renamed the Adamawa Peace Initiative) was formed.
According to her, following the Boko Haram crisis in the state, several peace and development projects have been launched through the API to respond to the crisis. “They include ‘Peace through Sports’, ‘Peace through Literacy’, and ‘Peace through Entrepreneurship’, and ICT training.
“What makes AUN-API unique and critically important given the current state of increasing violence and instability in the region is our model. Members of the API identify vulnerable youths from their population, who AUN then educates and trains.
“These API leaders are deeply involved with and embedded in their communities. They have the best knowledge of which youths are the most vulnerable- vulnerable to violence and to groups like Boko Haram and thus are in special need of assistance. With this pathway to peace network in place, AUN has been able to train over 4,200 youths in 2014 alone.”
Ensign said the goal of the Peace through Literacy (STELLAR) is to help primary school pupils in the country, to empower them to stay enrolled and succeed in school, to realise their full potential.
As part of the programme, she said AUN students, under the close supervision of faculty, run an afterschool programme in primary schools in Yola tutoring Maths, reading and English Language; write and/or translate and publish age-appropriate children’s books in English and local languages; and harness technology to enhance learning outcomes.
The Peace through Sports programme she said teaches fair play, cooperation, increased self-esteem, and resiliency. “It helps to build cooperation with others and contributes to peace through building interactions based on harmony and trust.”
Other programmes she said include the STEM and Wizkids Clubs, where AUN students supplement the efforts of classroom teachers in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), adding that the programme has created 22 academic clubs in local secondary schools to engender a sense of team spirit among the students with attendant competition and peer pressure to improve achievement.
For the ICT training for the community, she said AUN students majoring in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Telecoms and Information Systems are encouraged to share their knowledge by undertaking training for the most vulnerable members of the community.
These she said are part of the university’s Community Engagement and Service Learning programme, which encourages students to contribute their time and talents to improve the society through active volunteer services in such areas as helping in tutoring pupils in literacy, English, mathematics, computer literacy, building, renovation and painting (of community schools), and teaching of income generation ideas, sewing lessons, small business development for women, garbage cleanup and recycling, tree-planting; borehole and well restoration, drug awareness campaigns and donations of food items to the needy.
Ensign stressed that the institution has not failed in its primary responsibility, as its students are getting quality education in addition to being exposed to the realities of their immediate environment so that they could solve problems and make an impact with the knowledge they have acquired.
“Our mission is to make sure we are educating Nigerians to solve problems, to understand better the problem of unemployment, insecurity, among others in their communities and to help in coming up with solutions to them.”
“These students are getting the best education in the world. They are being trained to graduate and come back and know how to solve problems. These are children who are going to solve the problems of Nigeria’s post-petroleum era because they are connecting their learning in the university with the classroom outside the university. In our mission, we don’t want to be a traditional university.
“We won’t say, ‘go and look at the problem and come back and be pessimistic.’ We say, go and teach those kids how to read and have a better life. You are a computer science student; write those programmes in Hausa so that students can know how to read and go teach the community from age 13 how to use the computer.
“We are not the traditional university and I am happy we are not. If we were, I think there will be more problems in the world. In the 21st century, universities have to really define themselves. I believe our university’s peace effort is one of the reasons Yola is safe and secured today.”