NGGT Delta: Maku backs return of public schools to Missions as Gov. Uduaghan cedes 41

[FMINigeria]

                        The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku has expressed confidence in the ability of Missions to run public schools which they once managed just as the Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan says 41 schools have been handed over to Missionaries by his administration.

Responding to questions from newsmen during an inspection of the St. Patrick College, Asaba, by members of the National Good Governance Tour on Thursday, Mr. Maku said the handover of schools to the missions is a very good policy.

His words: "Let me say that I am a product of Catholic Education. I went to a Catholic primary school and I also went to a Catholic teachers' college. I know the Catholics have a policy of ensuring that every segment of society is represented and integrated.

"Every Catholic school you go is also multi-religious. They will make sure that all religions are represented in their schools. Unless the Catholic Policy changes now, but I know that Catholic Education is for the people.

"We were the victims in the 70s. If you went back to our schools in the late 80s and the

early 90s you will weep over the state of those schools that were taken over by Government.

"Things were broken down; morality was down, academics down, everything down. Now we went to Anambra State just your neighbour here so what Peter Obi has done with the handover of schools and the quality of education has changed immediately in those places. So it is good to give the Missions back their schools so we can concentrate on competing between the public schools and other schools.

Commenting further on the common trend of sending children of the country to foreign lands to school, the Minister said "my children are schooling in Nigeria. They are also in university in Nigeria and I discuss with them all the time. And I am impressed with the standards of the schools.

He said "People going abroad is not always good. Some people just want to show that they belong to a particular class and so their children shouldn't school in Nigeria. Some even want to be importing water. Let me tell you as the Governor said, we were trained in Nigeria, I didn't school abroad and I have self-confidence to compete with anyone that comes from Harvard or Oxford or anywhere. I don't have any inferiority complex.

"We can make these schools possible like the way they were in the 70s and 60s and this is the kind of infrastructure that is required and the next thing is the administration of these schools which the government is handling", the Minister stated

Mr. Maku therefore commended the State Government for its intervention in providing first class infrastructure, though the school had been handed over to the Missions.

Also fielding questions form journalists, Governor Uduaghan said the St. Patrick College, Asaba is one of the 41 schools handed over to the missionaries, who he noted are the original owners of the schools.

According to state officials, the school was in a very bad shape and rather than renovating the structure, the Governor decided that a new one should be built completely with state of the art facilities.

The school is one of the oldest secondary schools in Delta State. It was founded in 1944 and it was taken over from the Catholic Mission in the 1970s.

It has 24 classrooms, laboratories for physics, chemistry, biology, home economics and a computer laboratory which has inverters that can power the computers for 21 days in the absence of electricity.

Governor Uduaghan said "My predecessor made attempt to hand schools over to Missions but it was met with very stiff resistance especially by NUT.

"I believe that a lot of the Mission schools that were taken over by Government had their standards dropped. The Moral education that used to be taught in those schools were stopped, teachers became indiscipline themselves and so we believed that handing those schools over to the missions will create a competition between Government Schools and Mission Schools.

"But we also believe that because it is our children that attend the school we will not stop working on it even though we have handed it to the Mission, we will still continue the work we are doing on it. The hostels are being redone, we have the classrooms, we have the sport pitch which has 100m track", Governor Uduaghan

He said though the school had been returned to the Mission, its students are still those from the old school. He said "We have JSS three and SS three, they are not paying any school fees. When the Catholic Mission fully takes over we don't know what they will do but for now the students are not paying.

Uduaghan further informed that the State has special schools for the physically challenged children.

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Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria