FG, RSG Pledge Support For ‘Adopt A Child Initiative’

Both the Federal and the Rivers State Governments have pledged to  support the nursery education rehabilitation scheme of the Wife of the Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith Amaechi, labelled “Adopt A Child Initiative.”

Wife of the President, Dame Patience Jonathan gave the assurance while speaking through the wife of Vice President, Mrs Amina Sambo at the second national conference on kindergarten education held on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.

Dame Patience stated that the need to revive  kindergarten education had become imperative since it was the bedrock of any nation’s educational system.

She observed that kindergarten education was very important because,” this is the age when a child gets what is imparted to him.”

The President’s wife commended Dame Amaechi for taking the bold initiative in transforming lives, emphasising that two years after the scheme was launched, it had made huge impact.

Pledging support to the initiative, Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi while speaking on the topic, “Kindergarten Education in Nigeria, State Government’s Involvement” harped on the need to sustain the programme,” we must address the issue of sustainability with parents”

The Governor advised that with its lofty objectives, measures must be taken to ensure that the scheme did not face challenges in the future,as he recommended a tuition based system starting from the city ,where demand for nursery education was high.

Similarly, Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike assured that the Federal Government would partner with the Empowerment Support Initiative(ESI) to ensure that the “Adopt A Child Initiative” makes the required impact on the lives of rural children.

“The Federal Government will partner with ESI so that children would imbibe the culture of reading, and we can not revive the reading culture unless we revive kindergarten education,” Wike declared.

He stressed the need to close the gap in access to such facility in the rural areas, as he remarked that the Federal Government would partner with the body to improve on the spread of the programme.

In her contribution, Country  UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Suomi Sakai,who was represented by Mrs Valentina Solarin disclosed that already the body had commenced a partnership programme with ESI to ensure that the scheme made the needed impact in the rural areas.

She called for the localisation of the programme through the engagement of local people to drive it.

Earlier, Founder of the ESI and wife of the Rivers State Governor, Dame Judith said barely two years after the scheme was launched, it had registered not fewer than 4000 pupils with 51 nursery schools scattered across the state.

Dame Amaechi further remarked that, “kindergarten education holds the key to the future of the country with a notion of catching them young.”

She harped on the need for all levels of government to support the scheme since nursery education was not an exclusive of the rich.

Rivers State Commissioner for Youths, Hon Owene Wonodi (left) with his Social Welfare counterpart, Hon Joe Poroma at the 2nd National Conference on Kindergarten Education in Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.