Former Governor of Rivers State, Sir Celestine Omehia has tasked Old Students Associations in Rivers State to assist the authorities in the development of their Alma Mater.
Sir Omehia who said this at the Diamond Jubilee celebration of County Grammar School, Ikwerre / Etche in Port Harcourt, noted that government alone could not transform every school in the state.
The former Governor said County Grammar School, Ikwerre /Etche needed urgent rehabilitation to save it from imminent collapse.
He said that his administration embarked on perimeter fencing of the school to check further encroachment by communities while contract for electrification was also awarded.
Omehia said that it was due to his administration’s effort in the renovation of the school that made it emerge as the best renovated school in Nigeria in 2008.
According to him, it now behoves on the association to take up the challenge of ensuring that the school remains one of the best in the country.
Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Barr Emma Okah stressed the need for old students association to always identify with their Alma mater.
Barr Okah said that the present administration under Governor Nyesom Wike had done so much to improve on both the infrastructural and academic standards of schools in the state.
The commissioner who spoke on behalf of all the awardees thanked the association for the gestures, stressing that the awards will spur them to do more for the school.
In his address, the National president of the association, Chief Odieari O. Oluye said through the effort of the association, electricity was restored in the school, adding that the association has setup a cooperative society through which younger members and the current students will be trained to be self reliant instead of searching for employment opportunities that are non existent.