Anambra @30: Celebrating Education Builders

With the maiden edition of ‘A Day with Education Builders’, organised recently by the Anambra government, which witnessed the celebration of stakeholders that contributed to support the sector, the state said it would ensure that education takes its pride of place in the nation and beyond. Funmi Ogundare reports

It was a celebration all the way, as the Anambra government recently took time off to honour its indigenes. These individuals support the course of education in the state through the infrastructural development of schools, scholarships, and foundations to ensure that students achieve their dreams.

The milestone event, held at the Hollywood Event Centre, Awka, tagged ‘A Day with Anambra State Education Builders’, commemorated Anambra’s 30th anniversary. A total of 57 indigenes were honoured. The individuals received plaques and certificates for their support and contributions to the sector. Some of the honourees who spoke to THISDAY expressed delight about the award, saying it would spur them to do more.

Sir Boniface Ugonabo, chairman of JACBON Industries Limited and president of the alumni association of Bubendorff Memorial Grammar School, Adazi, said, “The governor is doing quite well. The award means so much to me. I feel highly elated. It will push me to do much more to put in place more infrastructure.”

The principal of Bubendorff Memorial Grammar School, Adazi Town, Owere Ezukala, Theodore Ekwem, is a member of Friends of Education in Orumba South, a group comprising six young men and women. They set up ICT centres, functional libraries, and skills acquisition equipment for schoolchildren in the community.

They awarded scholarships to poor students by subsidising their school fees and footed the bills of their WAEC fees. “And still more are in the pipeline. We are planning the perimeter fencing of the secondary schools to beef up security and ward off enemies,” Ekwem revealed. “Particularly as a Catholic priest, we have been championing good education.”

Chief Bart Nwibe is the founder of the Igboukwu Foundation, established in 2005. The foundation gives brilliant students in Igboukwu and Abaga local government. He believes the award will add more wind to it.

“We expect that the administration should do more. There is a need for synergy between the government of Anambra State and the private sector,” added Nwibe. “We need to have technical schools that will attract the relevant skills to students to prepare them for the challenges of modern life rather than waiting to be employed after graduation. The government should be the driver.”

A former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Senator Victor Umeh, noted that he established a foundation in 2017 that trained over 10 university graduates and currently training over 300 students in institutions of higher learning.
“About 76 students were awarded scholarships in 2018 when I was in the senate. They are in their third year at the university now. By October this year, we will pay for the 2021/2022 academic session,” Umeh explained. “These are children who are not privileged to afford the high cost of education. They are the people we are looking at to help to achieve their dreams. Many of them have got PhDs, become medical doctors, lawyers and gone into other professions.”

Umeh appealed to rich people to stop buying luxury cars and start investing money in children from less privileged homes, stressing that by so doing, they will be building a better society.

“An educated child is a light to his community, state and Nigeria as a whole. Buying cars worth N100 or N150 million is a waste of money.

When I started the foundation, I was paying N5 million annually in 2017. Now my annual budget is about N20 million,” Umeh disclosed. “So let them start thinking of how to empower these children and help us to build a better society. The government cannot do it alone.”

The politician recalled helping a medical student who almost dropped out of the University of Port Harcourt due to her father’s death.

“I took her into my foundation, and this year, she graduated as the best student in Medicine and Surgery at the university. She is not even from my local government area. These are the types of people we should look for to empower so that they can achieve their dreams,” he stated.

In her address titled ‘What is leadership if you cannot influence’, the Commissioner for Basic Education, Prof. Kate Omenugha, commended the awardees for their support and contributions to education over the years.

“Today provides the opportunity to sing their songs, to celebrate them, to say a big thank you for their numerous contributions to education in the state. A lot of you have supported the state government by providing extra teachers for our schools, building classrooms, toilet facilities, equipping libraries, training teachers, giving extra-mural lessons, equipping science laboratories, etc.,” said Omenugha.

Omenugha, the first professor of Gender and Communications in Nigeria, revealed that a handbook titled, ‘A Guide to Public-Private Collaboration Initiatives/ Interventions in Schools’ had been prepared to provide a pathway for individuals and organisations intervening “in our schools.”

Paul B Construction Company managing director, Paul Enidom appealed to stakeholders to support Anambra’s education system. He emphasised a partnership model where the government and private sector can continuously interact on education funding, particularly in hard-to-reach communities. A data bank that will link all schools in Anambra should also be put in place.

“We are looking at a situation where the state can have an organisation where the government and private sector can meet on funding of education, particularly in their community,” he stated.

“The data bank is imperative so that anybody that wants to key in can have a clear idea of what to do. The organisation will also constitute a board, have an education trust fund, and they can harmonise the activities of old boys and girls of schools.”

Governor Willie Obiano explained that the occasion was an opportunity “to thank our great Anambra men and women who have keyed into the vision of providing quality and value-based education in the state.” He described education as very imperative to the development of the state, saying that as one of its enablers, his administration recognises that none of the pillars can stand without a solid education.

“This explains the huge investments we have made in education over the years. We approach education from three-pronged areas; infrastructure, teachers’ welfare and students’ welfare,” added Obiano.

He said infrastructure has made many Anambra schools wear new looks by remodelling science laboratories in over 60 secondary schools and revamping technical colleges. The governor further noted that the schools could be found in all the 179 communities of the state and easily recognisable with their red roofs, popularly called ‘the red roof revolution’.

“The technical colleges have been revamped as over 26 trade subjects have been accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), with the workshops having state of the art equipment,” stated the governor. “One of our greatest legacies is the model hostels we are building in the 12 technical colleges with 750 students capacity, which ultimate aim is to provide the technical college students with befitting boarding facilities that will make them both attractive and competitive.”

He added, “The hostels will also provide the opportunities for people to travel and live in any of the technical colleges that have their choice trade subjects.”

According to the governor, students’ welfare, including conducive environments for learning, is paramount. He pointed out that Anambra has made education “inclusive.”

“Our policy has made us reach students who even live beyond the end of the road. We have given prime attention to the special and the physically challenged students in our special education centres, giving them free tuition,” Obiano explained. “The same free tuition has been extended to technical colleges from NTC one to three. We have remodelled our special education centres giving the special students a liveable environment and increasing their subventions.”