When is a project termed minor or major? Is this determined by cost or by necessity? The piece below tries to answer this question, in relation to Tai local council area in Rivers State.
A certain comedian once recalled how, as a kindergarten student, he was told that education was the key. However, as soon as he acquired his “education,” he discovered that the padlock had been changed, rendering his painstakingly acquired education useless.
Also, are children still the leaders of tomorrow? This is because many are wondering when the turn of the younger generation would come.
While these concerns are understandable, the truth remains unchanged: education continues to be the key, irrespective of the current realities in Nigeria. I have never seen an uneducated person licensed to fly an aircraft, nor have I seen an untrained personnel member supervising a plant construction.
What may be missing is that we have not taken education seriously, resulting in a large number of poorly skilled graduates in the country, many of whom are unemployable. The content of our formal education needs to be enriched with practical skills necessary to solve problems, rather than just focusing on a “literacy campaign” of reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.
Recognising the poor quality of education in schools, the Nigerian government has recently remodeled the curricula for primary and secondary schools to incorporate vocational programmes common in Western countries. This initiative is aimed at making school leavers self-sufficient, even if circumstances prevent them from pursuing further formal education. Other measures now in place include a student loan programme.
In Tai Local Government Area, for instance, the executive chairman, Matthew N. Dike, upon conducting a needs assessment, discovered that Tai has been lacking in specialized areas such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in recent years.
After declaring a state of emergency on human resource development, with attention already given to farmers through farm inputs and implements, he turned his focus to education, employing 250 teachers to complement his efforts toward producing STEM professionals in the near future.
On February 15, 2025, he inaugurated the Tai Special Science School (TSSS) at the premises of State Primary School in Nonwa Uedeme, with a promise to build and equip its permanent site in earnest. He had earlier set up a committee to comprehensively assess and evaluate students in the area to select those with a high propensity to excel in STEM, nurturing them to fill the gaps in the labor market, achieve personal fulfillment, and contribute to their families and communities. In total, 104 students were found worthy and have been admitted to TSSS.
Dike believes that through quality education, the people of Tai can be liberated from the shackles of hunger and the darkness of insecurity. Through his intervention, he aims to secure the future and development of the area. He has provided quality teachers and learning facilities to ensure a conducive atmosphere for learning. He further pledged that the council would establish an Educational Trust Fund, backed by legislation, to ensure the sustainability of this initiative up to university level.
In the coming years, Tai will produce a strong cadre of STEM professionals especially in medical sciences and engineering who will not only be employees but also employers of labour, while contributing to society through humanitarian services. What a different, yet sustainable, approach to what is locally referred to as empowerment!
(Source: Samuel O. Onungwe)
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