Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has awarded scholarships up to university level as well as cash rewards on the four representatives of the state, who also won the 25th edition of the President’s Inter-Secondary School Debate Championship in Abuja.
This was even as the victorious students predicated their victory on the governor’s commitment and huge investment in education, noting that Enugu State was hitherto unable to particulate in the competition for over ten years due to lack of support.
The victorious contingent is made up of Emmanuella Chukwuma of Holy Rosary College, Enugu; Chiamaka Okwuibe of Queen’s School, Enugu; Goodness Chinedu Chiemerie of St. Patrick’s College, Emene, Enugu; and Chibuikem Ukadike of the College of the Immaculate Conception, CIC, Enugu. Mr. Malachi Eze of CIC and Mrs. Joy Agbala of the Post Secondary School Management Board (PPSMB), coordinated and prepared the team.
Receiving the team, which was at the Government House, Enugu, to present the trophy to him, Thursday evening, Mbah said the victory showed that his administration’s investment in education was paying off, reiterating his government’s wealth creation drive and the non-kinetic aspect of the war on insecurity were heavily dependent on education.
“When we made the pronouncement that we were going to spend 33 per cent of our budget on education; that for every N100, we will spend N33 on education, a lot of people thought it was mere posturing or perhaps to earn public acclaim. But we knew that if we are to achieve a zero per cent rate on poverty headcount index, we must do something that is radical in our education sector.
“If we must also deal with insecurity in a non-kinetic manner, then education will be the only answer because a lot of our young people, who resort to criminality, do so because they lack skill.
“So, in Enugu State, we have taken the view that if we get education right, and if we can anchor every other thing we do in terms of development around education, we will be sure that we have the highest wealth or the highest resource in Enugu. And what you have done is a testament to the fact that we are connecting the dots rightly,” the governor said.
Commending the team for making the state proud, he announced scholarships and cash awards to them in addition to supporting them, having qualified to represent Nigeria at an international debate competition in the United States.
“We are going to make sure that we invest sufficiently in you so that you get prepared for the global event. We are also going to make sure that as you pursue your academic career, that we are going to be there with you. We are going to provide you with scholarships to pursue your university education,” he stated.
Governor Mbah commended the Chairman of the PPSMB, Rev. Fr. Hilary Mgbodile, for insisting on merit in selecting the team in line with his government’s philosophy.
“Merit is the driver of everything we do in this administration, even with the way we set up our team. We recognised that we have laudable ideas and vision, but if the selection of the team was towards politics, then we would have failed from the beginning. Therefore, we made sure we went for the best of our best.
“We are going to continue to double down on our investment in the education sector. We want to make sure that when a reference is made on Enugu, then we will be referencing on Enugu’s smart kids. We will not be talking about Nigeria and the world without talking about Enugu children,” he said.
Presenting the trophy, the team captain, Emmanuella Chukwuma, thanked the governor for prioritising education in the state.
“Our achievement is a testament to the expected fruits of the huge investment you are making in education. It also testifies to the enormity of talents in Enugu State education system and the intellectual process of our young people. As you rightly emphasised in your address during your 100 days in office, “education is the key to unlocking the potential of the youth and driving economic growth,” she stated.
She assured the governor and the state that the team would not let them down in the international competition in the USA and their future pursuits.
Meanwhile, speaking to Government House correspondents, Rev. Fr. Mgbodile, also commended the governor for the huge investments in education and his philosophies of transparency and meritocracy.
He noted that the students were not handpicked, but emerged through a statewide debate competition in their respective zones.
