By Eze Chukwuemeka
Eze
Preamble
In
my series of examining the extraordinary feats of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi and exposing him as the epitome of exemplary leadership in governance
based on the theme for his 54th birthday ceremony that comes up on
27th May, 2019, I wish in this treatise which I titled, “Amaechi @ 54: His Impact as an
Exemplary Leader in the Education Sector (Part Three) ” intend to expose to the
world the wonders this enigma achieved for Rivers State during his years as the
Governor of Rivers State in the Education sector.
I have in my first treatise titled, “AMAECHI’S
54 BIRTHDAY: THE ROLE OF EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP IN GOVERNANCE WITH SECURITY AS A
CASE STUDY (PART ONE)” , highlighted how this man fought and
dismantled the demonic menace of insecurity that caused Port Harcourt to be
ranked among the worst and most insecure State capitals in the world. I concluded
that piece by preferring solutions to the unfortunate insecurity situation of
the State under the watch of Governor Nyesom Wike.
In my second
treatise titled, “AMAECHI’S 54
BIRTHDAY: HIS FEATS IN THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR AS A CASE STUDY IN THE STUDY OF
HIS EXAMPLARY LEADERSHIP IN GOVERNANCE (PART TWO)”, I highlighted
the vision and extraordinary feats he achieved in the Agricultural sector when
he was the Governor of Rivers State which sadly the present Governor of the
State have destroyed and dismantled.
For
avoidance of doubt, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, erstwhile governor
of Rivers state, incumbent Minister of Transportation and the undisputable
leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-South region of
Nigeria, will be celebrating his 54th birthday on 27th of May, 2019. According
to the organisers of this year’s birthday celebration, which theme is “The
Role of Exemplary Leadership in Governance”, the great Obi of Onitsha,
His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnnaemeka Alfred Achebe, CFR, MNI, will be expected to
chair the epochal event, while the keynote speakers have been carefully
selected: H.E. Nasir El-Rufai, the Executive Governor of Kaduna state;
Senator Olorunnimbe A. Mamora, the Managing Director of the National
Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA); Prof O. Georgewill of the University
of Port Harcourt; Barr. Bele Tariah, a beneficiary of Rt. Hon. Amaechi's
Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme; and Hon. Nancy Stephens, former Deputy Mayor
of Port Harcourt local government area (PHALGA) will moderate the epochal
event.
Though
the great minds mentioned above, expected to speak on the theme are all well
qualified and very capable to do justice to it, however having followed the
politics of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi these past thirteen years, I will
be doing a great injustice to the world if I fail to bring to the fore what
made this enigma of a man, not only unique, but a true example of what leadership
is all about.
Today, as I earlier stated in
this treatise, I will focus on how Amaechi changed the fortunes of Rivers State
in the area of Education and how he succeeded to attract and make Port Harcourt
the UNESCO World Book Capital.
AMAECHI
AND THE LAYING OF A STRONG AND SOLID FOUNDATION IN THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR FOR
RIVERS STATE
According
to the legendary Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which
you can use to change the world.” While to the famous Walter
Cronkite; “Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that
of an ignorant nation.” To Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, erstwhile governing
Rivers State seems like a divine mission where tomorrow does not exist. In tune
with the statements credited to the above sages, Amaechi seems to be in a hurry
to accomplish so many things within a short period at the period of his
governance of Rivers State and have in
my recent treatise exposed his feats and strategies adopted to secure Rivers
State and his revolutionary trends in the Agriculture sector, in similar
function, I intend in this particular treatise briefly highlight the revolution
witnessed by Rivers State within the eight years of the tenure of this young
visionary man in the area of education amongst others.
On assumption of
office the Amaechi-led government declared a state of emergency on the
education sector and completely took over the payment of salaries of primary
school and junior secondary school teachers, hitherto the statuary function of
local governments, to ensure that education takes its rightful place in the
scheme of things. This intervention cost the state government then N800 million
monthly, to pay salaries of primary school teachers. To further strengthen and
ensure qualitative education in the state, ex-governor Amaechi signed into law
five bills brought for his assent by the State House of Assembly. Among them were
the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Amendment Bill 2012 and the Rivers
State Senior Secondary Schools’ Board Bill 2012. The then governor was upbeat
while signing into law these bills, including the one on social services levy
recently passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly. The government
targeted building 700 model primary schools with 500 completed – each with 20
classrooms costing about N116 million each and equipped with ICT facility,
modern library, science laboratory, football field, basketball pitch,
volleyball pitch and nursery playground. These model primary schools were built
to the standard of the United Nations as obtainable in developed parts of the
world.
The State
Government also built 24 model secondary schools across the 23 local government
councils in the state, well-structured and fully-equipped with modern
educational, recreation and boarding facilities, with standard housing for
teachers’1B, of which one was commissioned by the former president of Nigeria,
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. These secondary schools have been referred to by some
observers as universities. Said Amaechi about his mission: “We knew that the
problem of the state was basically education, the state of our quality of
education was abysmal and we knew that the quality can only improve if we take
over primary education.” He expressed concern over what local government councils
were doing with the money meant for this purpose. Rivers State under
Amaechi introduced the study of ICT in the model primary and secondary
schools. According to Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi, then commissioner for
education, whose word was a law on issues of education in the state: “The
introduction of ICT in our schools was to enhance technological development of
our students in the State. The world is a global village and the need to
embrace technology at an early stage is essential in the intellectual development
of the students. I am proud that Rivers State is the first state in Nigeria to
introduce the study of ICT at the primary school level. All the schools in
Rivers State today are equipped with ICT facilities with internet
connection, as the state is eager to make all her pupils and students to be
technologically ahead of their counterparts in other parts of the country.
“Our candidates
are ICT-compliant and write external examinations like WAEC and NECO. Today, I
am proud to state that technology has eased learning in our society as our
students can do their assignments on the internet. Today, Rivers State
University of Science and Technology (RSUST) is leading the way in
technological drive in Nigerian universities and has shown Nigerians how ICT
can easily be used to enhance learning and administration process in the
academic environment. All these are to the credit of the great revolutionist of
our time – Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi,” Lawrence-Nemi enthused.
Apart from
retraining teachers, the government employed 13,000 teachers from the 20,000
shortlisted for interview, out of the over 45,000 teachers that applied – a
feat uncommon by any other government in Nigeria. Rivers under Amaechi offered
scholarships to over 2,000 students in Nigerian higher institutions, and spent
about N5 billion on her students in foreign institutions. The state embarked
upon building a world-class university, which when completed will turn out
well-equipped graduates that will hold their own in any field. In the Rivers State
University of Science and Technology, the Amaechi administration was building a
hostel that will accommodate about 6,000 students, and accommodation for all
the lecturers of the university that will be ICT-compliant. It is
important to point out here that the Rivers State Government is among the few
in Nigeria that offer free education and free health delivery to its people,
but stands apart as the only state offering free education, free sandals, free
books and free uniform in Nigeria. About 500 new primary schools have been
built in 350 communities across the state.
Amaechi explains
what his administration achieved for Rivers State under the educational sector
within eight years of governance
“Education
is one the strongest areas of focus by this Administration. Under our watch
these last eight years, our educational system witnessed transformation in
infrastructure and service delivery.
Although
constrained by the reduction of our revenue by more than half, our
administration is proud of undeniable successes in our educational sector such
as infrastructure revolution: Building and equipping over 311 world class
primary schools and five model secondary schools; The retraining and
recertification of teachers with the involvement of the British Council in Port
Harcourt; Total elimination of strikes and disruptions by takeover of payment
of salaries of primary school teachers amounting to about N2bn per month;
Recruitment of 13,210 teachers; Establishment of the Quality Assurance Agency;
Introduction of Free Education up to secondary school level; Abolition of all
fees in schools; Annual oversees scholarships in strategic branches of
knowledge; Establishment of skills acquisition institutions to draw attention
to self-employment and entrepreneurship; and above all, the outsourcing of
management of schools in the state. The icing on the cake perhaps is the
transformation of the UST from 79th to best state university in Nigeria and
12th over all best. There is also the establishment of a university of education.
As
part of the Administration’s deliberate academic growth policy, we sent our
children to schools overseas, while working on improving our facilities in the
state. Back home, we sent others to rated secondary schools and universities.
We are proud of our achievements in the education sector; and are equally proud
of our children who proved that given conducive locale, they could compete with
the world’s best and brightest. We have given over 3000 scholarships to our
deserving children within and outside the country. Even with mounting pressure
and competing interests made the education of our children a priority as indeed
it should be. N800,000 ( Eight hundred million Naira) has been released to the
Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency in this light to enable it pay down
some of its obligations to our scholars”
Amaechi and
development of Human Capital through offer of foreign Scholarship to Rivers
State Students.
Jean
Piaget, a Swiss cognitive Psychologist on education having Amaechi and his
exemplary leadership in Rivers State in mind stated and I quote, “The
principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new
things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done”. In line
with stand of Piaget, the Government of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi not only
offered free education to the people of Rivers State up to Secondary School
level and offered scholarship in different universities in different parts of
the world as follows – i. Canada 297, ii. India: 202, iii. Ireland: 30, iv.
Singapore: 136, v. United Kingdom: 384, vi and over 1049 students studying
abroad under the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) in order
to create the new Rivers State as envisaged by the founding fathers of the
State.
PORT HARCOURT AS
UNESCO WORLD BOOK CAPITAL 2014
Apart from all
these feats, Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State of Nigeria, played a
historic role when it hosted the US-Nigeria Bilateral Commission on October 16
and 17, 2012, thereby becoming the first city outside the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja, to do so. This event is a top bill in international
rating and the strategic relevance of the Gulf of Guinea area makes the meeting
in Port Harcourt even more important. The United States Deputy Secretary of
State and two Assistant Secretaries led the US delegation. On the side of
Nigeria, the US-Nigeria Bilateral Commission is viewed with seriousness,
especially by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) led by Amaechi. It would be
recalled that UNESCO, moved by the revolutionary feats of Amaechi in the
education sector, crowned Port Harcourt the 2014 World Book Capital City in
April 2014, beating ten other great cities that include Oxford in England and
Moscow in Russia. For this to be achieved against all odds and challenges
simply demonstrates that Amaechi was a visionary and focused leader who has
received accolades in this regard by world leaders. His administration has, in
addition, promoted overall United Nations activities in the South-South
geo-political zone, through the provision of an outstanding facility that can
house over 15 UN agencies in Port Harcourt. As a result, there are five UN
agencies in Rivers State at the moment; and more are expected to follow in due
course.
Port Harcourt’s
reign as World Book Capital 2014 began with the handover by Bangkok at an
impressive ceremony at Hotel Presidential in the Rivers State capital.
Dignitaries at the event included former Governor Amaechi, former Head of
State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar; Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka; UNESCO
Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova; former World Bank Vice-President, Africa, Dr
Obiageli Ezekwesili; wife of the former Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi; Engr
Tele Ikuru, former. Deputy Governor of Rivers State; Rt Hon O.D Amaechree, then
speaker of State House of Assembly, members of Rivers State Executive Council,
senators and members of the House of Representatives from the state. This feat
by Port Harcourt in becoming the very first African city south of the Sahara
chosen as World Book Capital based on public voting, beating ten other great
cities that include Oxford in England and Moscow in Russia, is commendable.
SPECIAL AWARDS:
The
Rivers State Government was adjudged the best performing state in the Education
sector within the South-South zone during this golden period of Rivers State.
In recognition of this the Federal Ministry of Education rewarded the state
with the sum of N70 million for its performance.
The Rivers State Ministry of Education has won the
maiden edition of Babs Fafunwa Education Prize for Service Delivery. The award
is in recognition of the massive deployment of infrastructure, effective
management of human resources and productive educational policies and
programmes that have made a huge difference in the overall development of the
education sector in the state and in the lives of target beneficiaries.
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS’ COMMENTS ON EDUCATION
The United
Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) commended Amaechi on the strides
recorded by his administration in the health and education sectors. Country
Representative of UNICEF, Ibrahima Fall, who described as tremendous the
progress made in these sectors, said: “This is the most exciting news for every
mother, for every child and for every family in Rivers State.”
In appreciation
to the feats of Amaechi’s administration, the former Israeli Prime Minister,
Ehud Olmert, stated: “The impression that I always get when I come to Africa is
that these countries have enormous potential, and your country and your state
(Rivers) have enormous potential and I think that you happen to have at this
time in history also, a dynamic, energetic and capable leadership that can make
the dreams of building up the state into a reality of life for the 5.1 million
residents in Rivers State that want their lives to be of much higher and
greater quality.”
In extolling
this great revolutionist, the United States’ Consul-General in Lagos, Mr. Jeffrey
Hawkins, told journalists: “I must commend Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
State for embarking on numerous people-oriented projects and showing enthusiasm
on Niger Delta issues. We are very appreciative of all that Amaechi has done.
We are quite clear that addressing the issues of the Niger Delta, the
challenges require focusing on things like education development, agriculture,
health, all sorts of issues. And the governor was kind enough to show us, on
the ground, some of the projects the government of Rivers State is working on,
so we are very deeply appreciative of his support.”
ABBEY WRITES
AMAECHI IN APPRECIATION OF THE SCHOLARSHIP THAT MADE HIM WHAT HE IS BY TODAY
Dr.
Samuel Jonah Abbey one of the beneficiaries of Amaechi’s policy on education
wrote and I quote, “It is with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation that I write to
humbly say thank you for making me what I am today.
The background story might be too long for you to read Sir, considering your
busy schedule.
Sir,
I had lots of aspirations as a child but the demise of my parents almost
crumbled the skyline of my world. As an orphan, I completed my first degree in
Civil engineering with upper class in 2010 at the University of Portharcourt.
My
horizons were then broadened when I heard about your overseas scholarship
scheme during your term as the executive governor of Rivers state. Sir, the
transparency of your administration gave me the opportunity to be assessed and
awarded the RSSDA scholarship on merit to pursue MSc Civil Engineering in the
UK.
I
successfully completed my MSc with Distinction in 2013 and today your
Excellency Sir, I have completed my PhD in Civil Engineering, Coventry
University, UK and now addressed as Dr. Samuel Jonah Abbey.
Sir,
I just want to say thank you so much for giving my life a meaning. Thank you so
much. My entire family are ever grateful to you. May God bless you richly and
protect you. May God shield you on every step and remain your pillar. May he
protect your entire family in Jesus name, Amen. I will keep praying for you.
God bless you my hero”
Sadly,
Governor Nyesom Wike the incumbent Governor of Rivers State not only stopped
the scholarship scheme of the Amaechi’s administration, sacked the 13,250
Teachers employed by Amaechi and discarded all the great schools built by the
Amaechi’s administration. He has so destroyed education in Rivers State that he
has embarked upon vendetta against all the owners of private schools in Rivers
State
CONCLUSION
Let me conclude
this treatise by summarizing in brief the key areas where Amaechi proved that
he is an exemplary leader of our time –
SUMMARY OF THE GREAT FEATS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR BY AMAECHI
1.
Employed over 13000
teachers in one day
2.
Sponsored over 2000
Rivers people on foreign scholarship.
3.
Built about 10 world
class secondary schools with boarding facilities.
4.
Upgraded the status of
COE to I. Ajuru university of education.
5.
Gave free school
uniforms to all primary school pupils.
6.
Made port Harcourt
world book capital.
7.
Built Modern Primary
schools in almost all the communities in Rivers State.
8.
Built Modern Secondary
Schools that is adjudged a university in various parts of the state. Unlike
what is undeniable in other states, Amaechi made school fees for
undergraduate students in all Rivers State owned higher institutions uniform.
9.
Gave Free Education fro
Primary and Secondary School.
10.
Upgraded SBS to
polytechnic.
11.
Automatic scholarship
was giving to all indigenous Lectures in UST to upgrade to Ph'd.
12.
Upgraded COE to UOE
which is the 1st in Nigeria. Direct payment of bursary to Rivers State students
in tertiary institutions.
13.
Supported the federal
university with infrastructural and human capital development.
14.
Backlog of over 4years
un access found of UBEC and ETF was accessed to date without his interference…
that made the board won an award as the BEST UBE state in Nigeria which
attracted #500,000,000.00 to the financial strength of the state. The board is
still the BEST in Nigeria
It is a
well-known fact that his weapon in revolutionising education was Lawrence-Nemi,
a lawyer, who served as the commissioner of education. This unassuming Amazon,
and definition of hard work, is a pride to her family in particular and Rivers
State in general.
•Attached are
some action pictures on Amaechi’s educational feats as Governor of Rivers
State.
•Chief Eze is a
Port Harcourt-based Media Consultant and can be contacted either through ezemediaconcept08@rocketmail.com,
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