Umakhihe Expresses Concern Over Edo Poor Ranking In Education

--- Vows To Bring Back Glorious Days.

Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe..

By Editor

January 25, 2024

Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe,  a frontline governorship aspirant on the platform of the  All progress congress (APC) has expressed deep shock and dismay at the rate of educational decay and degeneration in Edo State.

Umakhihe, made the remarks during the presentation of his 

action plans titled, "HOPE 24", which details the educational policies and programmes to be aggressively executed under his administration if elected governor of the state in the forthcoming September 21, governorship election on the platform of the party.

DailyMonitorgnr reports Edo State Previously regarded as one of the pacesetters in the educational sector in Nigeria, the sector has since been relegated to the background in recent times occasioned mainly by policy flip-flops .

In the action  plans, Umakhihe believes that the good old days of Edo State in education, sports and entertainment can be re-invented if the state government re-orders its priorities and also place a greater premium on the above sectors.

The immediate past, Federal Permanent Secretary  in the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is one of the leading aspirants for the party's gubernatorial ticket slated for February 17, 2024.

Delving into history, Umakhihe recollected how the old Bendel State's  students enjoyed the best of education under the late Prof Ambrose Alli, saying that the plight of the sector has since nosedived because successive administrations refused to invest heavily in the sector as well as paid lip service to the increased yearnings for a more robust and vibrant educational sector.

According to him,  in the era of the late Prof Ambrose Alli as Governor of the old Bendel State was indeed, the glorious days and golden era of Edo education.

"The period witnessed a rapid explosion in educational enrollment with parents and guardians queuing into the 'open access to education' policy of the state government to improve the future of their wards 

"The audacious execution of the free and compulsory education policy of the era also witnessed a huge leap in educational infrastructure spending as new school buildings, complete with libraries and science equipment sprang up everywhere in the state.

"In addition, bursaries and scholarships were given to deserving students", he recalled.

He noted that as one of the beneficiaries of the free and compulsory education policy of the era, there would be no doubt that under his administration education sector will be given optimal attention.

At every opportunity, he never  ceased to tell the grass-to-grace story of how that educational policy impacted his life and made him who he is today.

Umakhihe,  however, believes that there is light at the end of the tunnel just as he expressed optimism that the huge burden imposed on parents by the rot and decay in the educational sector can be eased.

"To do so, I proposed an urgent need to carry out a comprehensive reform of the sector, including the training and retraining of teachers, rejuvenation of vocational and technical education, and the re-introduction of the maintenance culture" he added.

It is the contention of Umakhihe, a PhD  degree holder, that for any society to develop and find adequate solutions to her teething problems and challenges, there must be a deliberate design to ensure that investment in education is placed on the front burner of Government policies and programmes. 

This, he noted would form the basis of his administration as Governor in order to ensure that decency returns to the educational sector in Edo State.