Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

By Jethro Ibileke/Asaba.

Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa Tuesday inaugurated a six-man committee to organise an education summit planned to hold in the first quarter of next year. Okowa while inaugurating the committee at the government house, Asaba, stated that his administration plans to use education as tool for economic transformation in the state.

According to the governor, “A good educational system has the capacity to produce transformed individuals in the sense that they are equipped with the knowledge and skills to develop the society they live in and make a success of their careers and lives.”

He stated that organising the education summit with the theme: “Leap Frogging Education in Delta State,” has become necessary to check the falling standards and noticeable deficiencies in our present education system in the state and the country in general.”

Okowa urged members of the committee to consider “learning goals, value orientation, social transformation, community participation, learning climate, service learning and centre of excellence,” while choosing resource persons for the summit.

Buttressing the need for the summit, the governor said it was part of his campaign promises to refocus the curricula of schools in the state. The Governor asserted that, “there is a sense of realisation that our present educational system is grossly deficient and out of touch with the realities of the 21stcentury society; in fact, those who say we should declare state of emergency in our education sector are speaking the minds of many Nigerians.”

“In today’s knowledge economy, education, not oil or natural resources has become the competitive edge of serious countries all over the world; the meteoric rise of countries like Singapore, Malaysia, China and South Korea that have leapfrogged other third world nations and joined the elite league of developed nations is due largely to the development of their human capital,” the Governor observed, adding that human resources accounts for 65 per cent of a nation’s socio-economic development.

Responding, the chairman of the committee, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, thanked Governor Okowa for deeming them fit to serve in the committee, adding that the committee has capable members to plan for the summit.

Other members of the committee include Mr. Vincent Magboma (Secretary), Chiedu Ebie, Jude Sinebe, Mrs. Pat Ejeteh, (Prof.) Mrs Mary Edema and Mr Jackson Ekwugum.