Breaking a 50-Year Cycle: CITAD’s Media Advocacy Brings a Primary School to Shara Community

In many rural communities across Nigeria, the absence of basic infrastructure, especially educational facilities continues to deepen inequality and limit opportunities for future generations. One such community is Shara, a remote settlement in Kano State, where children had been denied access to formal education for over 50 years due to the lack of a primary school.
For decades, the people of Shara watched as their children walked long distances to attend school in neighboring villages, if they attended at all. The hardship, security risks, and daily stress caused by this situation discouraged many families from enrolling their children, especially girls. As a result, education remained an inaccessible dream for most children in the community.
Determined to change this reality, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) embarked on a focused media engagement campaign. Drawing from its experience in community-driven advocacy, CITAD partnered with influential local and international media platforms, including BBC Hausa Service, to spotlight the decades-long neglect of Shara.
Through powerful storytelling, interviews with community members, and visual documentation of the situation, the story of Shara gained widespread attention. The media coverage struck a chord with the public and placed pressure on relevant authorities to act.
The campaign proved to be a turning point. In response to the media spotlight and the public outcry that followed, the Kano State Government took swift action by initiating the construction of a primary school in Shara, the very first in the community’s history.
This was not just the fulfillment of an infrastructural need, but the restoration of a long-denied right. For the first time, children in Shara now have the opportunity to learn within their own community, opening doors to literacy, empowerment, and a better future.
This victory is a clear testament to the power of media advocacy, community mobilization, and strategic partnerships. It demonstrates how marginalized communities, when given a platform, can challenge long-standing neglect and demand responsive governance.
The success in Shara has inspired similar efforts in other underserved communities, reinforcing the belief that access to education is not a privilege, it is a right that every Nigerian child deserves.