The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has distributed learning and teaching materials to secondary and primary schools across the three senatorial districts of Rivers State in commemoration of 2023 International Day of Education.
The Commission also announced the purchase of 30 JAMB forms and five scholarships for top JAMB scorers for each of the indigent students in Community Secondary School (CSS) Kaani, and Community Secondary School (CSS) Rumuapara and as well as 50 JAMB forms for students of Western Ahoada County High School.
Beneficiaries of the gesture included students of Community Primary School 2 Kaani, Community Primary School 1 Kaani, Community Secondary School (CSS) Kaani, in Khana local government area; Community Primary School, Rumuorosi, Community Secondary School, Rumuapara in Obio/Akpor local government area, and Western Ahoada County High School, Ahoada East local government area.
Also, the caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Tony Okocha, also visited and donated his book on the political experience of Rivers State to his alma mater, the University of Port Harcourt, Choba.
Speaking with journalists shortly after distributing the materials, the Rivers State Representative in the NDDC Board, Okocha, said the gesture was in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope vision as it relates education.
He said: “Today is International Education Day as proclaimed by the United Nations and we are here to support the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in his Renewed Hope mantra. The Renewed Hope mantra covers virtually all spheres of life, especially the one that will push Nigeria to our eldorado.
“On behalf of the Board of the NDDC, of course NDDC you are aware is created to do all that is possible to eliminate or reduce poverty in the Niger Delta region and one way of doing that is to give our younger ones from the kindergarten to secondary level and then the University level.
“The reason for doing so is that education is the bedrock of every society and sn educated society is miles away and apart in terms of development because education is a tool to fight criminality, education is a tool that will engender development in society.
“So that is the reason why on a day of note we have decided that we mark today with the presentation of learning and teaching materials, particularly to the primary and secondary schools and in fact aid the secondary school students, particularly those who may not have the wherewithal or their parents may not have the wherewithal to procure for them JAMB forms to be able to write JAMB.
“Now having achieved all of those, because we tried to target the three Senatorial Districts of Rivers State; we also felt that the tertiary institution is the mother of it all. And what is more important is that this is my alma mater. By the special grace of God this university also prepared me intellectually and otherwise and in one of my intellectual offerings which i owe to myself,.i decided to come and share for people to read and learnt in my own experiences as a person and they will also see pages where they will know how Rivers State came to being.”
Okocha also reiterated his commitment in human capital development for Rivers people while at the NDDC Board.
Earlier, Okocha paid a courtesy visit to the Mene Bua Kaani, Mene G.B. Apere, where he highlighted the importance of the United Nations’ Day on Education to the President Tinibu administration.
