By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
It was a promise fulfilled and a dream come true for pupils of the former Christ the King Primary School and Ewet Primary School in Uyo Local Government Area on Friday, when Akwa Ibom governor, Pastor Umo Eno, inaugurated the two model schools his administration constructed.
The elated pupils from the two model schools, all neatly dressed in new uniforms and shoes provided them by government, showed their appreciation in their welcome songs, sweetly scripted and beautifully presented.
The fulfilled and well satisfied governor, at the inauguration of the CKS Model School, Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, congratulated pupils of the two beautiful and modern schools for being the first to experience educational advancement as applied in the ARISE Agenda.
Eno noted that the picture of how the CKS was before its demolition and remodeling tells of the power of vision which, he recalled, came nine months ago during an unscheduled visit to the school, during which he was shocked by the decayed state of the school that has existed for years.
He also recalled his directive that the entire school be pulled down to be replaced with a brand-newmodel primary school in line with government’s policy to improve the state’s educational standard from the primary school level.
Eno, who described the achievement as a bold initiative, restated the resolve of his administration to replicate the model in all the local government areas of the state, calling on organisations, and corporate bodies to immortalise their names in the execution of their corporate social responsibility, by adopting a school and building with government’s specification or exceed the specification, as government cannot do it alone.
According to him, government cannot accept anything below the standard in its rural communities, urging all of contractors who handle government projects to exercise their corporate social responsibility in the State.
“The HENSEK of this world, and all of the contractors that every time collect billions of naira working in Akwa Ibom. I have said so in Ibesikpo; the Mobil of this world; the Sterling Oil of this world. I have brought the manager of Sterling Oil here, I expected him to have adopted one school in Eastern Obolo. So I am now calling on all the companies in Akwa Ibom,banks, we provide you security and you must support our drive to educate our children and bring community health to our villages. I see HENSEK here, I see Amitech, I see the Buletine. You people must adopt a school today”.
Eno announced that government has provided one million exercise books, while more will be printed for all pupils in primary schools, alongside school bags, uniforms and shoes.
“These uniforms they are wearing are made here in Akwa Ibom by tailors here. The shoes they are wearing are made here and as such, we are providing jobs for our artisans, tens of thousands of them. We are sewing them for our children. We think that for every project we do, we need to understand the economic benefits of those projects to our people who are willing to use their hands, not all those who are willing to live by handouts”.
The governor pointed out that the model schools are meant to provide the convenience for children, as the environment can inspire any child to come to school, and appealed to the community to allow the school to remain a school, and not a community football field, or a place to hold church programmes, while also directing the headmistresses of the two schools and others in the state being built not to rent them for anything, warning that any headmistress or headmaster who does that risks dismissal.
“We want this school to remain for our children. We are providing security, and we are making sure that the Assets Management and Maintenance Agency will take charge of maintaining this school and all our facilities. We must ensure that they are very well maintained”.
Eno said with the remodeling of the schools, their enrolment rates have quadrupled, and that with others to be commissioned soon, the issues of out-of-school-children, though very negligible in the state, will be reduced.
He thanked the contractor, U& K Limited, for delivering the project ahead of time, and the ones who worked on the Ewet Model School, saying, “These young contractors epitomise the ‘I can do spirit’ which I want all our youths to emulate”.
Eno recalled that when the contracts were awarded them, he had no doubt, given their track records that they will deliver, which they have done, saying, “Each time I come here or go to Ewet for inspection, they have always executed the milestone which we have drawn up for them to do. I want to use the story of Ukeme to call on our youths to get involved in the hundreds of projects which have littered this State, which we are currently undertaking.
These projects create jobs, and will put money into the pockets of any hard working and forward-looking youths as opposed to giving them handouts.
This has been my approach to building our youths by creating opportunities for them by using their skills to work to earn a living and also grow”.
He directed the secretary to the state government to appoint special assistants in school monitoring across the 10 federal constituencies, in the next seven days, with the responsibility of ensuring that none of the model schools and other government schools built fall short of government expectation.
According to him, the appointees will have a check list of the Ministry of Education, and will go round in three buses, to be provided by government, to each senatorial district to aid the monitoring of schools, and will check facilities in the schools and ensure all the facilities are intact, adding that they would not be civil servants to enable them report directly to his office.
Eno announcedthat anyone who is not prepared to work should not take political appointment, as political appointment is just to facilitate certain things outside the usual civil service structure, noting out that he is prepared to invest in the education of Akwa Ibom children, particularly at the rural level.
The governor called on international and local oil companies as well as commercial banks and other corporate organisations in Akwa Ibom to contribute to the development of the education and health sectors of the state, by adopting schools or health centresin rural areas to modernise or construct as their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
“I am also inviting transition chairmen in their various local governments to also try to do something close to this. You cannot be in office for six months and we cannot verify what you have done, and all we keep hearing is we are independent units. So long as you are in this state, I am your governor and you must do as I do. You will use the people’s money to serve the people.
“So while we recognise autonomy, you must understand that autonomy does not mean recklessness. Autonomy means that you will support the agenda of government. So let no one deceive you that autonomy means that you can behave anyhow. I have the right to call you to order.”
Highlighting the various components of the model school, the commissioner for education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, thanked the governor for remodeling of the school, describing him as the “talk and do governor”, while also tendering the appreciation of the pupils, her ministry, and the Akwa Ibom people to the governor.
The transition committee chairman for Uyo Local Government Area, Dr Uwemedimo Udo, said the people of Uyo, where the two model primary schools are located, were appreciative of the governor’s gesture, praying God to bless him.
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