Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole says the security of any nation depends on the investment in education, adding that government will continue to find resources to invest in the education of the children in the state.
Speaking at this year’s Children’s Day parade in Benin City, Governor Oshiomhole said, “we have to appreciate that the future of our country, state and our respective communities can only be secured if we identify the child as the most critical group that deserve all our attention as government, as community leaders and as parents”.
Oshiomhole said, “it is an open secret that the security of our future cannot be guaranteed by the amount of natural resources such as oil and other solid minerals. The future of our country is in the hands of our young people”.
He declared “that the government of Edo State under my stewardship appreciate that the starting point in refixing and repositioning our state requires that we focus on the child”.
“Everything must be done by government and by parents to ensure that the child gets the attention that they deserve. This explains why we have devoted resources to rebuilding our primary, secondary schools and tertiary institutions”, he explained.
The governor noted that listening to the children reminds one of the neglect which government after government had subjected education to.
“Government after government by their action succeeded effectively in privatizing education both at the primary and secondary schools. How else can we explain how public schools were so abandoned such that our children were sitting on bare floor, classrooms were without roofs and teachers were without desks”, Oshiomhole added.
The Governor stated that “this situation attracted the attention of my administration and we took bold steps in repositioning public schools, such that today, Edo State Public Schools are a lot better than private schools anywhere in Nigeria”.
He said, “I am encouraged that with the result we now get from public schools, Edo State government will continue with the process of rebuilding the remaining schools to the highest stewards”.
The highpoint of the event was the march past by the pupils.
