Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State has suggested ways to tackle the challenges facing the Nigerian educational system.

Speaking Saturday after being conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Public Administration by Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) during its 15th Convocation Ceremony in Enugu, Akpabio called for the provision of more basic infrastructure, establishment of more universities, provision of conducive learning environment for children, training and re-training of teachers.

“We have to overcome certain challenges even for the educational system to work. Part of it is the infrastructure. We have to build the backbone, the infrastructure must be there. We must build more universities; create the right environment for children to learn as well as the training and re-training of teachers,” he stated.

The governor, who said the challenges of education cannot be faced in isolation, stressed the need for government to tackle the challenges facing educational system in Nigeria based on the current realities in the country.

According to him, “When we have the right ambience, it means investments will come in. When you have stable power supply, industries will thrive. When you have security, individuals will invest; and when individuals invest, there will be lots of employment opportunities. And those who come out of schools will know that they are not coming into crime but into various job opportunities created in the country.”

Akpabio noted that security and education societal aid development, “so, I think we must first tackle the problem of insecurity and then government must invest in education. We must improve on the budget across board from the federal to the local government levels.”

He dedicated the honorary degree to God Almighty and Akwa Ibom people. “I received the honour with great humility and deep pride,” the governor said. “Humility because this honour provides an eloquent testimony that dreams never die and faith never fails. Pride because it brings glory to the Lord who brought us this far and will never fail us. At the same time, it brings honour to the good people of Akwa Ibom State who gave me the mandate to serve them.”

Fielding questions from journalists later, Akpabio said: “I feel great and really appreciate the honour. The award shows that what I am doing is recognised by the people. There have been a paradigm shift, in the past our people used to believe in pull-him-down syndrome, expecting nothing good from their leaders, but today Nigerians are appreciating what their leaders are doing and this will spur me to do more.”

In his speech, ESUT Vice Chancellor, Professor Cyprian Onyeji, said the honour was borne out of the institution’s admiration for Akpabio’s high sense of duty and commitment to the social contract with the people of Akwa Ibom State particularly in the provision of dividends of democracy.

“Convocation ceremonies offer us the opportunity to honour individuals who have distinguished themselves in their various fields as well as in service to humanity and found to have met all the conditions in laws of the university for the conferment of doctorate degree, Honoris Causa of the university. The purpose of this honour is to thank them for their contributions to the development of their fatherland and encourage them to do more,” Prof. Onyeji said.

ESUT Chancellor, Ambassador Hassan Adamu, while congratulating the honorees said they were chosen on merit based on the services they rendered to the society, and urged them to do more.

Governor Akpabio was honoured alongside Speaker House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; Engr. Cyril Nwabueze Udo, Managing Director, Decy Nigeria Limited, Port Harcourt; and Chief Maduka Onyishi, Managing Director of Peace Mass Transit.

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