Vincent Kalu
The gathering of education stakeholders at the Ohafia Girls Model Secondary School Hall, Amaekpu Ohafia, Abia State, recently, lent credence to high premium the people place on education.
This could also be the reason why the state for years has won back-to- back, the best in the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria.
The event was an economic empowerment seminar with the theme: “I am a Lady” organised by a Non Governmental Organisation, “She is empowered”, that is carrying out enlightenment campaigns on the girl child education in the state.
One of the highlights of the seminar was the award of scholarships to 15 female secondary school students from various schools in Abia State.
These beneficiaries were drawn from over 500 students across various schools in the state that participated in an essay competition, which produced the lucky winners from both the junior and senior secondary categories.
The convener of the seminar, Ms. Uzoma Uja, head, Legal Services at Access Bank, emphasised that her vision is to encourage the girlchild to stay in school and remain focused after school in their chosen careers in order to drive excellence towards being a change agent in the country.
Ms. Uja, a graduate of law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, further explained that the first edition of the seminar, which saw six students awarded scholarship focused on teenage pregnancy with the theme; “I live life, before I give life”, had over 250 students in attendance, and they were lectured on issues of sex, career and peer pressure.
She said the second edition of the programme had about five participating schools with representatives of the Christian Girls in Training (CGIT) in zones all over Ohafia and Abia State in general, where 10 girls received scholarship awards.
She also explained that this year’s event, which is the third edition of the empowerment seminar has about 13 participating schools across the state, she promised that the next edition would be an upgrade of the other previous editions, and encouraged the students to take their studies very seriously and aim for excellence.
She is Empowered programme also has the following co-conveners: Mrs. Comfort Uma of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies; Mrs. Nwada O. Ike, quality assurance evaluator, LGEA Ohafia; Chineme Obuba, Nigerian Breweries PLC); Mr. Ngwoke Emetu, marketing consultant, and Chiamaka Emetu, student/entrepreneur.
Catherine Iroh from Interkince College; Happiness Aniju from Valley View International College and Aliyu Jamila from UC Model School thanked the organisers of the programme for their encouragement and support to the girl child, which they have demonstrated over the years and particularly, the scholarship wards to students, which they noted would go a long way towards improving the education and welfare of the girl child in Nigeria.