• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Delta to set up Education Endowment Fund, says Okowa

Ifeanyi Okowa

Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Wednesday disclosed that the state government would soon establish an Education Endowment Fund for schools in the state.

He said the move was part of efforts to move the education sector in the state forward

The governor disclosed this in Asaba at the Annual Conference/General Meeting of the Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria, Delta State Chapter

Okowa explained that since the education sector was the backbone of any society, the state government wanted to set up the fund to ensure that Deltans had access to quality education under a conducive learning environment.

“The education sector is very vital to our economy as this is the breeding ground where our doctors, lawyers, even future governors are groomed and nurtured.

“If we are faced with recession again, subventions to schools will be reduced and maintenance of our schools and ensuring that our students get the best education will be restricted. But if our schools had Endowment funds, with or without the allocations, the schools will be well taken care of. So with that in mind, the state government will soon be establishing the Education Endowment Fund for schools across the state,” Okowa said.

The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, also emphasised the importance of a partnership between the state government and the private sector to improve the economy of the state.

He said that the development of any sector could not be achieved by the government alone but required the input and support of the private sector.

“Our economy, although recovering from a recession, can only improve when investments are brought into our country and policies that will strategically strengthen our economy are implemented,” he added.

“As a government, we have been doing our very best to improve our economy and strengthen our infrastructure but we cannot do it alone. We not only need the partnership of the private sector but we have to ensure that policies that have been strategically designed to improve our economy are implemented.

“We do not just need strategists, we need to make policies that are innovative and are in line with global trends,” Okowa said.

He commended the Institute for organizing the conference saying “this meeting is timely and it is my belief that at the end we will have more solutions to tackle the challenges facing our economy.”

The National President of ISMN Emman Oyeka, said that the conference was designed to discuss innovative ways to address the economic challenges facing the country, adding “we need outside-the-box ideas that will radically improve our economy”.

 

Francis Sadhere , Asaba