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Classrooms blocks
built by the Niger Delta Development Commission and Education Trust
Fund in Edo State are already cracking and not up to standard, Edo
State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, said yesterday.

The governor, while
commissioning some buildings erected by the state government said, “I
will like our elders to look at the classrooms that were built by NDDC
and ETF. When you go inside, you will find that the buildings are
already cracking,” he said.

A crack in the wall

“The reason why I
brought this up is that one of the factional leaders of the opposition
party was comparing our jobs to NDDC and ETF. I urge you to take a look
and compare it to what we are doing and the judgment is yours,” Mr.
Oshiomhole said.

Over the years, the
two agencies have gulped a huge percentage of the budget with an
expectation of immense contribution to the development of the people,
especially at the education sector, through the special fund voted to
the Education Trust Fund.

In a statement by
Tony Iyare, the press secretary to the governor, the governor had
described the neglect of public education as a direct attack on the
poor, while urging that government’s utmost priority must be to invest
in qualitative public education in the country:

“We insist that our
children deserve our very best. If we do not invest in our children,
then we have no future. No investment is too much to secure the future
of our state,” he said.

Mr. Oshiomhole, at
the commissioning of four blocks of 32 classrooms at Idia College and a
block of six classrooms at the Niger College in Benin City, renovated
by the state government, said that the state government’s mission is to
transform schools into international standards and restore the glory of
public education, adding that “the school environment must give
confidence, pride, and qualitative identity to pupils and students.”

According to him,
“my message is that education is the most viable strategy to combat
poverty. We are confronted today with the dynasty of the poor, that is,
poor parents begetting poor children without opportunities of
advancement.”

He also argued that
in a digital and knowledge driven world, what gives a nation edge over
others is the quality of the human capacity.

“I think for Edo
State to be able to compete, we need to go beyond rhetoric and
re-invent education and assure the people that the renovation would be
extended to other schools,” he said.