Edo State Government and its governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, have been given the tips and encouragement to rapidly develop Edo State, in order to fully address the poor state of education, infrastructure and social amenities being experienced in the state.
The hints were made by members of the Annunciation Catholic College Irrua Old Boys Association (ACCIOBA), through “Uduota” (Heart of the Matter), a popular live television discussion programme, anchored in pidgin English by the Independent Television, and hosted by Emma Akpololohor.
Speaking during the programme, ACCIOBA’s Global President, Dr. Joseph Ohens, with Prof Omeimen Ujuanbi and Engr. Austin Omobhude, members of the association, applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent call on Nigerians in the diaspora to come home with direct investments, which he further said would helped to stabilise the country’s ailing economy.
Dr. Ohens, an adjuntant law professor, who is based in the United States, opined that the huge remittances to the country are actually huge and almost tally with the county’s major earnings from petroleum, urging Governor Okpebholo to cash in on the opportunities and readiness of the Edo diasporans, to better education, infrastructure, economy and other sectors of the state.
He also advised that the success recorded by ACCIOBA, with its reconstruction and renovation work at ACC, Irrua, he was confident that the state could be bettered, if it takes after the synergy between ACCIOBA’s members at home and in the diaspora.
Prof Omeimen Ujuanbi of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, who was on the ground to carry out the project, hailed the ACCIOBA diaspora members, for committing over eighty percentage of the N3 billion naira put into the school project. He further advised that it was transparency and commitment Edo State Government, Edo diaporans and others need to exhibit, in order for such tripatite collaboration to work it out.
Engr. Austin Omobhude, a Canada-based mechanical engineer and business executive, who was said to be the highest benefactor in the ACC project, regretted that since twenty five years ago, when ex-President Obasanjo set up the national diaspora body, nothing meaningful had been done to achieve its set-objectives.
His advise was that Edo State Government could do the ideal thing by nominating key Edo diasporans and others, in the same manner Dr. Ohens and some other ACCIOBA’s diaspora and home-based members had done a feasibility study and set up a practical committee that helped to actualise the project.
ACC, Irrua, the first private secondary school in Esan land that was established in 1955, became a cynosure of eyes and a benchmark for alma maters to give back to reposition education in the state, with a state-of-art donated facilities and employment of teachers and other staff.
