The Rivers State Ministry of Education has won the Babs Fatunwa education prize for service excellence.

The award, The Tide gathered was in recognition of the unprecedented development of infrastructure, effective management of human resources and productive educational policies and programmes that have made a huge difference in the overall development of the education sector in Rivers State and the lives of its target  beneficiaries.

The award was presented to the Rivers State Commissioner For Education, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi in an education summit in Lagos.

Receiving the award, Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi, said it was a testimony of the giant stride of the governor, Chibuike Amaechi, in reviving the education sector of the state.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Director of Higher Education, in the Rivers State Ministry of Education, Mrs Mae Solomon also said that the state government has made education its number one priority in this political dispensation.

She noted that the state government has succeeded in making education free and compulsory for Rivers people.

She revealed that the aim of the free education policy is to ensure that every Rivers’ child of school age have access to education, because, she noted, education is the key to national development.

The Rivers Education Boss advised all stakeholders to live up to the challenge of reviving the fallen standard of education in the country.

According to her, education is a sector that cannot be ignored because the future of Nigerians lies in it.

She added that if Nigeria is to attain the vision 2020, we have to reposition our education system for us to be among the 20 top economies in the world.

Speaking at the summit, the project coordinator, Mr Michael Onoja, pointed out that the event was designed to reward oasis of academic excellence on a national platform.

Mr Onoja maintained that the awards would raise role models that would inspire diligence required to dispel the notion that academic excellence counts for nothing in schools and announced that the summit would be an annual  event so as to promote academic excellence from both students and administrators.

Delivering a lecture titled: “The challenge of the University Education in Nigeria and the way forward”, Prof. Constance Nwosu, stressed that the decline in morals and values contributed to the problems in the educational sector.

Prof Nwosu proposed for re-introduction of moral education course’ in school curriculum, engaging in research, work and continuous assessment on assignments of students.

Other award recipients at the summit, were Akhigbe Iseiren Josiah, who graduated with 4.98 CGPA from Mechanical Engineering Department of University of Lagos. Rev Sister Maria Onyindo who bagged a first class in Mathematics from university of Nigeria, Nsukka, also received an award including Mrs Aham Chiabuotu with a first class from Babcock University with a CGPA of 4.91.

Eunice Choko- Kayode