EATECH Commended for Infrastructural Rehabilitation of College 

Chinedu Eze

Akwa Ibom State government has commended the management of Engineering Automation Technology Limited (EATECH) for investing over N35million in the rehabilitation and equipment of Biology and Chemistry laboratories of St. Mary’s Senior Science College, Abak.

This is as the Nigerian Content Development and Monitory Board (NCDMB) commended the management of the indigenous oil servicing for returning the school to its past glory where it was famous for the practicality of science learning in the 80s and mid 90s.

Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Idongesit Etiebet, who stated this at the inauguration of the laboratories in Abak, tasked other corporate organisations doing business in the state to partner the government in boosting the infrastructure and quality of teaching and learning in the state.

Etiebet, represented by Mrs. Roseline Anthony Mfon, Director,  State Education Assurance Service, said education should be seen as a joint venture between public and private sector and that the state would welcome any private sector firm wiling to assist upgrade infrastructure in its public schools.

“We are very grateful for what EATECH has done in this science college and we are charging the teachers to use these laboratories to bring out the best in the students,” she said.

Zonal Coordinator, Nigerian Content Development and Monitory Board (NCDMB) for Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, Mr. Uduak Obot said the provision of the two laboratories by EATECH was a direct response to the demands of the local content initiative of the Federal Government where local capacity development and operations in the Nigerian oil and gas sector rest squarely on knowledge-base of geo-sciences and engineering.

“In few years from now, students from this great institution, after mastering sciences as a result of this singular corporate social responsibility project by EATECH shall grow to master geo-sciences and engineering and will have gainful employment in the Nigerian oil and gas industry,” said Obot.

Managing Director/CEO of EATECH, Dr. Emmanuel Okon, while handing over the facilities to the school, said  the investment was part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

He recalled visiting the two laboratories of the foremost science college in the state and finding them dilapidated, abandoned and overtaken by weeds and rodents.

He particularly flayed the situation were science students have to be shuffled through schools without the requisite laboratories for their practicals to  bring them at par with their contemporaries around the world. 

He said: “I graduated from the school more than 33 years ago, but during a visit two years ago, I was shocked that the foremost science college that has produced great alumni making waves within and outside the country was without functioning biology and chemistry laboratories. Given the role of science and technology in shaping today’s global economy, businesses and even politics, it is tragic for the present and posterity of this state and indeed the country, to shuffle students through this school without the requisite laboratories for teachers and students to explore, experiment, innovate, make mistakes, learn and grow at the same competitive level as their peers around the world. This intervention in the most modern laboratories that could be found anywhere in the world cost us about N35million and it is our little contribution, as part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR), in closing this infrastructure gap in this school  and creating the right teaching and learning environment for teachers and students.”

Okon tasked the principal and students to make good use of the facilities and also ensure their proper maintenance.