Issues
How Partnerships Are Closing Education Gap
If there is any sector of the economy where governments at all levels in Nigeria have invested significantly to raise the bar in the much-needed human capital portfolio, it is in the critical area of infrastructure and human capacity development. The result is spiraling collection of educated population across the country.
But very big contributors to this bolstering record in efforts to achieve, if not surpass, targets set as part of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the governments within the oil-rich Niger Delta region. These states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Rivers. They, without doubt, cover the geographic area where the interventionist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is constitutionally mandated to provide fillip for sustainable development.
The NDDC is not the only driver of development in the region. The multinational oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta have also invested huge chunk of money for the overall development of the region. But on the aggregate score, their social spend in building human capacity has been monumental. Indeed, this score is more conspicuous in the education sector where investments in infrastructure and human capital development are already yielding groundbreaking results. These results are visible because the companies have genuinely exploited available windows for partnership and synergy with virtually all stakeholders in the development process.
It is this partnership template from private sector perspective, that the catchment governments are now cashing in on to unleash transformational development never before anticipated. In fact, leading the pack in keying into this development driver is the Rivers State Government under the leadership of Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
Of course, Rivers State is an archetype of the 21st Century Centre of Excellence in PPP-driven educational development strategy. The Chibuike Amaechi-led government, in the last four and half years, has invested huge sums of money in strategic partnerships for the development of the education sector, both in the area of infrastructure and human capital. This is because even as the government sat down to articulate an intervention policy to address the education infrastructure deficit with an initiative meant to build, furnish and equip about 750 model primary schools in the 23 local government areas, it factored in a major role for the private sector, especially the major oil and gas companies, in the process. The primary schools are not just all. Even a good percentage of the 23 model secondary schools being executed across the 23 local government areas, also have PPP content. And one major thread that runs through the entire education sector development is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). This, indeed, is not surprising!
On assumption of office as Governor, Amaechi declared a state of emergency in the education sector, and initiated pragmatic policy to populate the state’s landscape with world-class model primary and secondary schools. The primary schools have information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled 14-classroom blocks with an auditorium, e-library, sports facilities, principal and teachers’ offices as well as conveniences.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education in the state, Mr Richard Ofuru, reiterated the government’s vision for building the schools in remarks during the inauguration of the Shell and Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership Learning Centres in Port Harcourt. For him, and indeed, the government, the purpose is to create a convergence centre where indigent and poor pupils and those from wealthy families would acquire basic education thereby helping to bridge the yawning gap between the rich and poor in the state. The idea was hinged on the desperate need to remedy the rot and dilapidation that had permeated the sector for decades, and had forced many families to either withdraw their wards from public schools or completely lost hope in the ability of government to revive education sector and thus, re-engineer confidence in a bright future for the state, albeit, Nigeria.
Some of the enablers of this vision are the congenial learning environment, state-of-the-art facilities, spacious classrooms and seating arrangements, 21st Century learning tools, well-educated teaching staff, free tuition fees, accessible environment, and acceptable educational modules. In order to deliver on the vision for building the schools, the government had embarked on training and retraining of teachers to enable them perform effectively in the new technology-driven academic environment.
The permanent secretary was not alone when he touched on the very critical importance of strategic partnerships for sustainable educational development of the state. Ofuru noted that the government has been leveraging on the robust corporate social investment policies of such companies as Shell to lift the education sector to the next level. He catalogued such partnerships to include the Shell/Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership, Cradle-To-Career initiative scholarships through the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), the Digital Learning Programme, and scholars and teachers’ mentoring initiatives and the Sustainable Development Clubs, among others.
Now, let us take a critical look at two of these partnerships for instance. First, the Cradle-To-Career Initiative: This programme is a strategic education partnership between the state government and Shell aimed at making first-class access to education available to hard-to-reach children from rural communities in difficult areas of the state. To achieve its objective, Shell since 2010, has been working with the government to select 20 bright children from poor homes leaving public primary schools in rural communities, and putting them in three of the first-category private secondary schools in Nigeria – Brookstone Secondary School, Jephthah Comprehensive College and now Archdeacon Brown Education Centre, all in Rivers State. Today, 40 students from very indigent families now have their secondary education fully funded by Shell on a scholarship that promises to make them not just competitive in the academic environment, but also functional citizens that can confidently face life and undertake successful careers after secondary school education.And they are doing quite well. Another 20 are billed to join the ivy class this year.
Perhaps, the objectives of this initiative synchronises with the vision of Governor Amaechi for the education sector in the state. Just take a look: The Cradle-To-Career initiative aims to give disadvantaged but bright students from selected remote communities access to quality education; support the attainment of universal basic education; and develop a solid foundation for the training of quality manpower in the state. The benefits of this are enormous. For one, it would, provide improved quality of education and learning environment for students from remote communities; opportunity for interaction with students from other backgrounds; and engineer the development of a firm foundation for higher education and sound human resource base for future employment.
Another bold initiative that blends with the Amaechi government’s proactive investment in improving the quality of infrastructure, personnel and students in the primary education sub-sector is the Shell/Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership. In this novel project, the Ministry of Education is also partnering with the two socially-responsible corporate organisations to take education in the state to the next level. And Ofuru makes no mistake about the conviviality with which the government is savouring the relationship.
But why is the government overwhelmed by this pragmatic approach to human capital development? The reasons are simple: the Shell and Discovery Channel’s Global Education Partnership initiative has adopted 20 of the new model primary schools as veritable tools for re-inventing education in the state, and targets the transformation of no less than 49,315 stakeholders, including 639 teachers, about 12,169 students and 36,500 community members by 2014. This is huge! Already, with the completion of installation of the facilities in 20 schools dotted across five local government areas of the state, 245 teachers have been trained, while 7,050 students are applying the tools in learning, just as over 21,150 community members have improved their skills.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the initiative promises to impact teaching capacity and raise the bar in integrated educational video programming in the classrooms. The four-year Shell and Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership project has installed television and digital video display (DVD) players, and delivered original award-winning educational video programming and intensive teacher training on effective integration of locally relevant video content in support of curricular objectives.
The project is already in effective use, with tremendous results on startling improvements in academic performances. Both the teachers and students in the 20 select schools attest to this. A teacher, Dr Margaret Nwagbara is one of the many teachers who have drastically improved on their teaching capacity as a result. She made it clear in a testimonial that justifies the huge investment in the project when she expressed satisfaction with the project content and quality, and the impact it is already making in changing the face of education in the state.
Like Dr Nwagbara, the students are also enthralled by the innovative educational project. And they also made it unequivocally clear in their demonstrations and intelligent testimonies that reveal a determination to maximize the facilities in efforts to enhance their academic performance.
This promise of a faith accompli is the reason why all stakeholders – the state government, Shell, DCGEP, and the host communities – are delighted with the initiative. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Richard Ofuru made government position clear: “This programme has a good fit with the strategy of the Rivers State Government in the education sector, which has involved an ambitious upgrade of primary and secondary school infrastructure. We are happy that the programme would complement the efforts of the state government in improving teaching and learning in primary schools. Teachers and pupils are advised to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.”
The Managing Director, SPDC, Mutiu Sunmonu, made the company’s feelings known at the launch of the project when he said: “The launching marks the successful start-up of a four-year project to provide, in close collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Education, teacher training and support to integrate educational video programming in the classrooms.”
The Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership family is not left out in the excitement over the success story of the learning centres. Their leader, President of the partnership, Aric Noboa, conveyed the conviviality of hearts and minds they share on this project: “the aim is to use the power of media to transform education and improve lives in under-resourced schools and communities around the world.”
Nelson Chukwudi
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
