From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
The wife of Edo State Governor, Mrs Betty Obaseki, has made a case for all to be involved in building the educational sector in Nigeria stressing that government alone cannot undertake the responsibility.
This was as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, Most Rev. Ernest Obodo called for Nigeria to have a good education system that works.
The Edo First Lady, who spoke in Enugu while commissioning a newly built 21-seater 40 classroom blocks in Obioma community in Udi Local Government of Enugu State, stated that the Nigerian population alone makes education nearly impossible for any government to tackle effectively.
She enjoined private individuals to support education drive by either owing schools or helping the government to renovate or build good schools for their respective communities.
Eulogizing the man who built the school, the Group Managing Director, Afri Invest West Africa, Iyke Chioke, (Prince of Obioma Kingdom) she said: ‘Iyke is one who is a scholar so I believe it is one of his interests to give back to the society, to ensure that many young children are given the opportunity to actualize their potentials.
‘So we need quality education like what Iyke has done and is still doing to ensure that Nigeria breeds a crop of future leaders that would be capable and qualified to manage Nigeria’s economy.’
Auxiliary Bishop Obodo had in making case for a proper and workable education system for Nigeria said ‘there is no system that Nigeria is following in education. Let us have a system whereby the time a child finishes primary education, he or she already has more information.
‘Look at countries like Germany, France, America, etc, a child has about 90 per cent access to quality education and knowledge in computers and ICT. But in Nigeria the children are not taught, for example here, the teachers live in Enugu and go to school some hundreds of miles away. Some go to school once or twice a week. And the children play about after which they go home without any information or knowledge at their disposal.
‘So let us have in Nigeria a system that works where teachers are well paid and where there is discipline.’
Earlier, Prince Chioke said that education was key to lifting future generations out of poverty insisting on quality primary education.
‘I want to bring the telecommunications capacity and information age into my local community so that a child in a private school in Ikoyi, Lagos would not have any advantage over a child in this public school in Obioma, my community,’ he said.
‘So I want to build an army of smart programmers between the ages of 12-14 who could sit in Obioma and through computers, work for companies and earn salaries to support themselves without leaving their homes.’