Students in state-owned institutions of higher learning
carrying placards and rioting and running about destroying their
university or government property and disrupting socio-economic
activities in the larger society, as a way of protesting their objection
to either a fee hike or one form of neglect or the other!
Don’t expect to witness such a scenario soon in any part of Imo State, thanks to Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s policy of free education for all Imo State students in primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
This was the observation made by Prof. Uba Nnabue, the Hon. Commissioner for Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Technology when Mr. Chika Abanobi, Associate Editor, and Head, Education Desk of The Sun newspapers paid him a courtesy visit last week. The Commissioner who earnestly solicited the help of The Sun (which he praised for its consistent championing of the Igbo cause), in spreading the good news of Okorocha’s onerous achievements in the field of education, lauded not only his policy of free education but also his creation of the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, a courageous and wise move he strongly recommends to other state governors in Nigeria who want to see a quick end to students’ riots in their domain.
“For Rochas to come up in his time and have the courage to create a Ministry of Tertiary Education and to declare free education up to tertiary level, in spite of his meagre resources, is worth commending,” he said. “In one interview, I said that two people I have grown to respect in Nigeria is, one, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for declaring free education in the West, and over time, Rochas Okorocha, for having the courage to say there will be free education.
When Awolowo declared free education in the West, we had premiers in other regions but none could do it. From that time till now, that legacy is there; they are still enjoying it; otherwise no governor in any other part of Nigeria has ventured to give any semblance of anything called free education. But here Rochas decided to make all the sacrifices to make education free so that the children of the poor can go to school. So, I commend him and I commend him more because not minding all the resources he is committing into free education, he is still paying the salaries as and when due and putting in place infrastructural developments.
“I will give you an example. I started the Law Faculty of Imo State University in 1992. From that time till now, no governor in Imo State, military or civilian, has erected one building block in that university. It is only within this tenure of Owelle Rochas Okorocha that buildings are now springing up all over the place. Any other person would have said because he is giving free education, where do we want him to get the money from to build infrastructures or to pay salaries. But not His Excellency! He is living above board in what we expect from him. So, he is just a wonderful person. I commend him. He has done well in the area of education.
This is without prejudice to what he has done in the areas of primary and secondary education, building 637 primary schools, upstairs and renovating secondary schools wherever there are dilapidated structures and employing teachers and putting things in place, I mean showing a sincere commitment to reviving the standard of education.”
This, he added, is epitomized in his creation of Ministry of Tertiary Education. “If university education must go a little beyond what it is, there must be a direct supervising ministry. It is not a file issue.
So, applaud his vision and courage in creating this ministry.” And the creation, he noted, has made it easier to articulate the tertiary institutions’ views in more robust manner before the State Executive Council unlike the case in time past. That way, the idea of tertiary students running to the governor with any little matter that agitates their minds, has been eliminated. “Now there is somebody to listen to the details and take it to the Executive Council. This is why we longer have strikes and riots from these institutions because their matters are always on the front burner and treated with dispatch.”
Responding to Prof. Nnabue’s request, Abanobi promised, on behalf of The Sun, to do everything possible to see that Okorocha administration’s achievements, which he confessed to be unprecedented in the history of education in Imo State are not consigned to the dustbin of history.
“The Sun which serves as the voice of the nation as well as the voice of Ndi Igbo is ready to work with Okorocha’s government through your ministry and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to highlight his numerous achievements in a way that will show cynics and critics that his much-trumpeted strides in education is not a fluke,” he assured.
Don’t expect to witness such a scenario soon in any part of Imo State, thanks to Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s policy of free education for all Imo State students in primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
This was the observation made by Prof. Uba Nnabue, the Hon. Commissioner for Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Technology when Mr. Chika Abanobi, Associate Editor, and Head, Education Desk of The Sun newspapers paid him a courtesy visit last week. The Commissioner who earnestly solicited the help of The Sun (which he praised for its consistent championing of the Igbo cause), in spreading the good news of Okorocha’s onerous achievements in the field of education, lauded not only his policy of free education but also his creation of the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, a courageous and wise move he strongly recommends to other state governors in Nigeria who want to see a quick end to students’ riots in their domain.
“For Rochas to come up in his time and have the courage to create a Ministry of Tertiary Education and to declare free education up to tertiary level, in spite of his meagre resources, is worth commending,” he said. “In one interview, I said that two people I have grown to respect in Nigeria is, one, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo for declaring free education in the West, and over time, Rochas Okorocha, for having the courage to say there will be free education.
When Awolowo declared free education in the West, we had premiers in other regions but none could do it. From that time till now, that legacy is there; they are still enjoying it; otherwise no governor in any other part of Nigeria has ventured to give any semblance of anything called free education. But here Rochas decided to make all the sacrifices to make education free so that the children of the poor can go to school. So, I commend him and I commend him more because not minding all the resources he is committing into free education, he is still paying the salaries as and when due and putting in place infrastructural developments.
“I will give you an example. I started the Law Faculty of Imo State University in 1992. From that time till now, no governor in Imo State, military or civilian, has erected one building block in that university. It is only within this tenure of Owelle Rochas Okorocha that buildings are now springing up all over the place. Any other person would have said because he is giving free education, where do we want him to get the money from to build infrastructures or to pay salaries. But not His Excellency! He is living above board in what we expect from him. So, he is just a wonderful person. I commend him. He has done well in the area of education.
This is without prejudice to what he has done in the areas of primary and secondary education, building 637 primary schools, upstairs and renovating secondary schools wherever there are dilapidated structures and employing teachers and putting things in place, I mean showing a sincere commitment to reviving the standard of education.”
This, he added, is epitomized in his creation of Ministry of Tertiary Education. “If university education must go a little beyond what it is, there must be a direct supervising ministry. It is not a file issue.
So, applaud his vision and courage in creating this ministry.” And the creation, he noted, has made it easier to articulate the tertiary institutions’ views in more robust manner before the State Executive Council unlike the case in time past. That way, the idea of tertiary students running to the governor with any little matter that agitates their minds, has been eliminated. “Now there is somebody to listen to the details and take it to the Executive Council. This is why we longer have strikes and riots from these institutions because their matters are always on the front burner and treated with dispatch.”
Responding to Prof. Nnabue’s request, Abanobi promised, on behalf of The Sun, to do everything possible to see that Okorocha administration’s achievements, which he confessed to be unprecedented in the history of education in Imo State are not consigned to the dustbin of history.
“The Sun which serves as the voice of the nation as well as the voice of Ndi Igbo is ready to work with Okorocha’s government through your ministry and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to highlight his numerous achievements in a way that will show cynics and critics that his much-trumpeted strides in education is not a fluke,” he assured.
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Okorocha’s magic wand against students’ riot revealedAdd caption |
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