ABIA State Governor, Theodore Orji, has said that the state
government would return mission schools to their original owners in
August, citing what he described as “the clean record of Veritas
University” as part of what informed the decision.
Orji, who dropped the hint during the second inaugural public lecture of the University at Aba, Abia State recently, also commended the University for playing a major role in the manpower development of the nation. To him, the institution has “the most disciplined students all over the country.”
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG) Prof. Mkpa Agu Mkpa; orji noted that he had found no evidence of cultism and corrupt practices in the University. “The clean record of Veritas University challenged this administration to resolve to return schools to the original owners, particularly mission schools in August 2012,” the governor declared.
The Catholic Archbishop of Owerri and Pro-Chancellor of the University, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Obinna was chairman of the occasion that attracted eminent Nigerians.
Delivering a lecture: titled, “Investing in our Students: Our Renewable and Sustainable Resource,” Dr. Kole Shettima described knowledge and skill as the global currency of the 21st-century economies. Shettima, who is also Country Director of MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria, noted that while it was good for the country to be endowed with oil, gas, timber and diamond, such resources would be meaningless in the long run unless the proceeds were used to build schools.
The MacArthur director regretted that countries with fewer natural resources tended to have higher economic growth and well being of their citizens than the ones with abundant resources.
“Nigeria is often presented as a poster child of resource curse,” he argued. “We have the 10th largest oil reserve and indeed we have more gas than oil. More than 80 per cent of our income is from oil and it also accounts for more than 80 per cent of expenditure. Oil is said to have netted $500billion since 1971 and about half in the decade. But it has been a source of regional and national conflicts.
“There is little to show for all the oil resources. We measure 156th in the Human Development Index out of 192 countries and territories. Nigeria accounts for 2 per cent of the world population but 10 per cent of global maternal mortality”.
Shettima further decried the situation of the nation’s educational system, highlighting that only 4 per cent of girls in northern Nigeria finish secondary education. He contended that 50 per cent of teachers in Sokoto state secondary schools could not read and write. “Nigerians spend nearly $300 million in Ghana pursuing education. Nigerians make up to 22 percent of students in Ghanaian institutions; in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), less than 25 per cent of students pass at credit levels in the two core subjects of Mathematics and English.”
Orji, who dropped the hint during the second inaugural public lecture of the University at Aba, Abia State recently, also commended the University for playing a major role in the manpower development of the nation. To him, the institution has “the most disciplined students all over the country.”
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, (SSG) Prof. Mkpa Agu Mkpa; orji noted that he had found no evidence of cultism and corrupt practices in the University. “The clean record of Veritas University challenged this administration to resolve to return schools to the original owners, particularly mission schools in August 2012,” the governor declared.
The Catholic Archbishop of Owerri and Pro-Chancellor of the University, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Obinna was chairman of the occasion that attracted eminent Nigerians.
Delivering a lecture: titled, “Investing in our Students: Our Renewable and Sustainable Resource,” Dr. Kole Shettima described knowledge and skill as the global currency of the 21st-century economies. Shettima, who is also Country Director of MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria, noted that while it was good for the country to be endowed with oil, gas, timber and diamond, such resources would be meaningless in the long run unless the proceeds were used to build schools.
The MacArthur director regretted that countries with fewer natural resources tended to have higher economic growth and well being of their citizens than the ones with abundant resources.
“Nigeria is often presented as a poster child of resource curse,” he argued. “We have the 10th largest oil reserve and indeed we have more gas than oil. More than 80 per cent of our income is from oil and it also accounts for more than 80 per cent of expenditure. Oil is said to have netted $500billion since 1971 and about half in the decade. But it has been a source of regional and national conflicts.
“There is little to show for all the oil resources. We measure 156th in the Human Development Index out of 192 countries and territories. Nigeria accounts for 2 per cent of the world population but 10 per cent of global maternal mortality”.
Shettima further decried the situation of the nation’s educational system, highlighting that only 4 per cent of girls in northern Nigeria finish secondary education. He contended that 50 per cent of teachers in Sokoto state secondary schools could not read and write. “Nigerians spend nearly $300 million in Ghana pursuing education. Nigerians make up to 22 percent of students in Ghanaian institutions; in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), less than 25 per cent of students pass at credit levels in the two core subjects of Mathematics and English.”
