Chief Elias Mbam, governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he has developed a roadmap to boost education sector in Ebonyi.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abakaliki on Monday by Mr Obinna Udenwe, Special Assistant to Mbam on Media and Publicity..
He said Mbam, who is also the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) said that he has researched into the efforts past and present leaders to development the state.
According to him, these documents included their work-plan; development plan and reports, as well as various reports on the state by such agencies as the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Others include the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and scholarly reports on Ebonyi, African Development Bank (AfDB) report and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) growth forecast for Ebonyi.
He said his findings would help him in fine-tuning his roadmap to overhaul education in particular and make the state great.
“Mbam have assembled a set of development professionals, policy developers, academics, media professionals, among others to study the documents and develop a roadmap to revamp the education sector.
“The education reform strategy of Mbam will pursue robust improvement in the learning environment including facilities and education administration.
“The strategy also includes professional development for teachers and quality assurance through teacher training, and improvement in conditions of service”, he said.
Udenwe said Mbam would award scholarships to students from Ebonyi to study abroad or locally for postgraduate programmes with a view to building the required manpower for the development of the state.
“No fewer than 100 students will be sent overseas annually with special focus on areas such as medicine, engineering, law, social sciences, agriculture among others,” the Udenwe said.
He said that Mbam’s administration would foster engagement with communities, parents and guardians on formation of children and assured quality education in the state if elected.
“Most importantly, we will engage key stakeholders, including the private sector, civil society organisations, international development agencies and philanthropies in providing educational services in Ebonyi.
“We will provide affordable functional primary and secondary education, vocational and tertiary or specialised education that will build capacity of our children”, he said.
Udenwe quoted Mbam, a seasoned technocrat, as deploring a poverty index report released in 2019 which scored Ebonyi 87.02 per cent below Jigawa, Taraba and Sokoto, as the states with the highest level of poverty per head in Nigeria.
According to report, Ebonyi is rated the only state in southern Nigeria with the highest number of poor citizens.
He identified efficient and responsive public service, futuristic and affordable education, friendly business environment and investments, affordable housing, robust information technology as priority areas for Mbam if he becomes Ebonyi governor.
Other priority areas include; sports and recreation, enhanced agriculture, food security, water and sanitation, environment and climate change, universal and affordable health care. (NAN)
