…As Mary Odili calls for return of teacher training colleges
On the day the high and mighty gathered in the heart of the Garden City of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to celebrate an education model, Chrsitie Toby (PhD), a panel of experts traced the rise of toxic leaders to the collapse of effective classroom teaching.
This tone was sparked by the heartfelt outcry by a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Mary Odili, wife of former governor of Rivers State, who said the wiping away of Grade Two Teachers and the Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs) has destroyed Nigeria’s education system.
She raised the cry at the presentation ceremony of the book with the title: ‘Dr Christie Toby: Touching Lives, Raising Leaders’, at the Unity Hall of the Port Harcourt Club on August 28, 2024 with Gov Sim Fubara as Special Guest of Honour.
The retired justice had said it had burdened her for decades why government scrapped the TTC system of raising teachers, saying she watched Toby closely for years while both (Mrs Odili and Mrs Toby) served as wives of the governor and deputy governor respectively.
She said: “I have always been pained how education has suffered because of government policies. I have prayed and craved for an opportunity to unburden my mind over this, and God has answered my prayers.
“It is providential to be nominated as chairman of this book presentation. There is distress in the education policy. Why phase out the Teachers Training College system (for Grade Two Teachers)? Now, we see half-baked teachers everywhere. The foundation of education has been swept off.
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“Untrained teachers now teach our children. Dr Christie Toby’s early training with grounding in teachers’ colleges is what made her very strong in teaching and education management.”
Odili said she found out the quality in Toby when both of them were wives of governor and deputy governor (1999 – 2003). “The skills acquisition scheme of Peter Odili/Sir Gabriel Toby administration was different because it had methodology.”
At this point, she pleaded to the authorities to return to the Teachers Training College (TTC) system.” She also appealed to teachers and school managers as well as parents to endeavour to pick the book and read it well.
The discussion panel dwelt on the topic: ‘The Place of Education in Raising the Next Generation of Leaders’ with Emem Okon, executive director, Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre in Port Harcourt, as moderator. Okon cared more about gender perspectives when she observed that Dr Toby, by the account, did not suffer gender discrimination at home. “She was never denied anything or education on account of gender. It is important for this panel to encourage this and seek opinions on how to make it better.”
Leading the talk on what exactly is wrong with education, BB Fakae, the professor of veterinary parasitology and one time vice chancellor of the University of Science and Technology (UST), now Rivers State University, said the concern and focus should be on need for quality of education, not just availability of education. “Quality is what gives confidence. Unions in the education sector should fight for quality of education, not just for welfare. That seems to be our major area of disagreement.
“Teaching must be approached with passion. That is why Dr Toby is on record for improvising in schools she headed when government was not able to provide certain things. Let us come back to quality teaching. A teacher must seek to reproduce his/her type, if you want to produce leaders through education.”
Another professor, Ferdinand Adolphus of RSU, stated that there is need for functional education as well as skills to accompany degrees and certificates. He said there is need for problem solving education system. To deliver this, he called for beefing up the education of teachers and enhancement of the teaching profession as he said is done in the UK and some other countries where teachers are highly respected. “Its bad to make teaching to be for academic rejects.”
A third panelist and associate professor, Janeth O. Williams, who said Toby taught her at Holy Rosary Secondary School, insisted on passion as part of teaching qualities. “Passion must be part of teaching, and some of us have adopted such approach.”
Ibim Semenitari, first daughter of the Toby family, and former commissioner of Information in the state, welcomed guests showering huge respects to the book subject as a model and to the state governor as well as the secretary to the state government, Tammy Wenike Danagogo.
She singled out Justice Mary Odili for huge appreciation for devoting the day for the family. “This is a tasking project, but it is a good one for a deserving mother, the woman who deserves her flowers.”
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Rivers models must be recognised:
Governor Fubara, in his celebration of the wife of the former deputy governor, described her as a model in all ramifications and a pillar in education. The governor who was represented by Danagogo (SSG) said the priority of the present administration is on education before others such as healthcare and agriculture.
He told Toby: “Your life is a remarkable one. You have been an exemplary teacher, educationist, an education investor, role model, and a philanthropist. The common trend in the words of people is about passion for what you do (education) and selflessness. If you didn’t have these, you wouldn’t be on toast today by Rivers’ people and Nigeria.
“Your exploits are up there and you are known to have established and run one of the best and topmost schools in the land.
“Upcoming leaders must read your works and life in this book. They say the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. You touched many young lives, so you have ruled the world.”
The SSG tried to hint on Fubara’s mindset: “The Governor will always honour those who have toiled in the area of education such as you. You are thus one of the heroes of Rivers State. So, we came here to share in your story.”
No child is ineducable – Christie Toby:
The subject of the book, Christie Toby, said it is not true that any child is a loss or ineducable. She said its only about methodology.
She decried decline of the teaching profession, saying: “Everybody is taught by teachers and important people are taught by teachers. It is sad that many young people do not choose to be teachers anymore. Most people are also teachers in their fields not knowing they were. Doctors in teaching hospitals are teachers because they teach student-teachers.
“I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude this day. Many experiences in my early life sharpened my career and path in later life
“My goal was simple: To contribute in the field of education in a very difficult system. I didn’t know it would enrich my life and the lives of others. I am today proud of my students; many of them have turned out big in their fields.”
The book presenter, Adokiye Ikpoki, a business magnet, extoled the virtues of Christie Toby as a mother and mentor. “You have imprinted your name and philosophy in the minds of students. You set out to make a name, not money, as your father always told his children and mentees in his days. Role models like you are those who will make Nigeria work.”
The author, Dotun Adekanmbi, showed the difficulties in tracking the life pattern of Christie Toby right from her father and mother.
The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, commended the Toby family and quoted Theodore Roosevelt who once said: “To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
He added thus: “One of the leading exemplary characters and an icon of education has put all her years of experience in a book.”
Deeper in the book – William Wodi:
The book reviewer, William Wodi, who began life as a journalist before working as an ace public relations officer of the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) before moving to the classroom as a lecturer, tore the book to pieces, intellectually, as a reviewer.
He stated how the book started with the Datubo family (the Venerable, Obadiah Datubo Cookey Brown), the father of the subject of the book. He revealed how Datubo mentored his (William’s) father as a cleric.
Trying to show where Christie Toby got her high moral fire, Wodi said the father had a mountain-moving faith and influenced many reverends and others. “In fact, many like my late dad called him father.
“He was popularly called ODC Brown or simply ODC and he had Spartan discipline. The book is episodic (telling different stories in different chapters). It has intricate narrative touching different disciplines of knowledge.”
He went on: “The book depicts Dr Christie Toby: a life of sacrifice from childhood to now. Her life was about moving from place to place due to her father’s nomadic life or postings to different cities. She concluded her education at Cardiff which is known worldwide as the centre of teaching.”
Wodi described what he called the tragedy of Nigeria’s education which he said is that it boasts of teachers that rather need to be taught.
“They boast of academic titles instead of capacity; illiterate teachers. The damage done by these illiterate teachers will need 50 years of hard work to repair.”
He said Dr Toby went on in life to set up a school for the challenged, something no private school investor will do; because it is not profitable.
He pointed out some errors which he said should be corrected in subsequent editions.
Conclusion:
Wodi said: “This is a story about a woman who emerged as a helper, cancer survivor, etc. In the book, she kept revisiting the death of her son, showing that it was a big and lingering pain. The book ended with her first daughter’s quotes on how she perceives her mother.
“Dame (Dr) Christie Toby derives joy in helping other family, friends and total strangers alike (especially the less-privileged) as her own way of expressing gratitude to God for all His mercies. She is a bundle of miracles and a mentor guide of young people in our utilitarian society. While still inconsolable over the painful loss of her first son, Tamunodienye in 1968, because of dehydration arising from mere diarrhea that could have been cured with ORT, Christie Toby has remained grateful to God and human agency for all the good things of life that came her way in 80 years.”
He said a part of the book is replate with superlative testimonies of what other people say about this amazing woman.
“In all, the 18 loaded chapters of this remarkable book, spanning 358 pages, guide the reader through Dame Christie Toby’s spartan upbringing in the vicarage, to a good Christian girl, to the corporate and community life, to the teaching profession, to the riveting drama that led to her wedlock, and to the blissful co-existence with the love of her life, the Socratic-looking Alabo Sir Gabriel Toby. Let us end where we began this review; and that is to thank Venerable ODC Brown for training and giving society a good vicarage girl and a worthy role model in this era where people know the price of everything, but the value of nothing. Our gratitude goes to God Almighty for continuing to shower abundant grace on Christie Adata Toby (Nee Datubo Brown). This is a well-researched book, and everybody should read it.”
