Rivers State Governor,
Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has identified “ theft” as the only viable industry under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.
He made the declaration recently at the 30th-32nd convocation ceremony of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) in which he was the visitor to the university.
Recalling his days as a student unionist in the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), the Governor noted that as students, they stand the chance of calling their leaders to order when the need arises, such as the present, which had seen the federal government fail in all its responsibilities to its citizenry but has excelled in “stealing public fund, with students not knowing what they should do.
Governor Amaechi, who made the declaration in his speech at the occasion asked rhetorically, “how many of you know what the national issues are?”
Contrarily, in his days as a student unionist, students were interested in national issues and universities were closed because of students’ agitations for a better society rather than lecturers’ strike because lecturers never went to strike.
“After us (student unionists), most of the rest student union officers became contractors to government, and they were proud to say. “I saw the governor last week, ‘we had meeting with the commissioner for education, we were with the president”, he said.
Students, he hinted are now more interested in what would benefit them individually than as a state or country.
Consequently, according to the Governor, the government of the day does what it likes even to the detriment of its citizenry.
Governor Amaechi thus urged the graduands to not only see themselves as graduates but also those who need to be employed.
Debunking the federal governments alleged employment of 1 million Nigerians, Amaechi challenged the federal government to name the type of jobs, noting that, ‘the only industry in Nigeria today is the industry of stealing money and nobody is being prosecuted.
Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor of the IAUE and chairman of the 7th Governing Council, HRH (Dr) King M. Ikuru, had in his address appreciated the state government’s contribution to education in the state, specifically the IAUE.
He, however, noted that ‘funding of educational institution and its programmes is a costly and worthwhile venture, hence he urged the Governor to continue to give education a pride of place in the scheme of stately functions as always.