Obi Presents N100m To Schoolsa

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, has presented cheques totaling N100 million to 200 secondary schools in the state for the development of school libraries.

Presenting the N500, 000 cheque to each school principal in Awka, Obi said that most secondary schools in the state lacked functional libraries and described the trend as a setback to the education sector.

He described education as the most important investment and yardstick for meaningful development in any society.

“Our commitment to education is total and we must continue to assist our schools. “Any school which already has a library, we want it upgraded, while those without one can now go ahead to build one within the next three months,’’ he said.

He called on traditional rulers and other stakeholders to ensure that they monitored developments in their communities with a view to informing the state government on their area of need.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr Ngozi Ezeike, commended the state government for promoting the reading culture among children.

Ezike saidthat the library project would go a long way to improving the reading culture among students.

Ezike said that the state government had more than 150 secondary schools with buses as well as two motorised boats for school inspection in rural communities.

She further enumerated other achievements as the provision of 30 KVA generating sets to more than 125 secondary schools, recruitment of 2, 000 teachers and support staff in schools, among others.

“Every community in the state has felt the impact of this administration, especially the unprecedented transformation in our secondary, primary and technical secondary schools as well as in the tertiary institutions,” she said.

The presentation of the cheques was witnessed by Prof. Clare Leaver and Andrew Zeitlin, both from Oxford University, UK, and the World Bank Senior Specialists on Education, Dr Tunde Adekola.