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Bayelsa State Governor,
Hon. Seriake Dickson (L), receives a report from the Chairman, State
Educational Trust Fund Board, Prof. Turner Isoun, during a meeting in
Government House, Yenagoa.
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- Government spends N500M out of N800M in one year
- Urges Bayelsans to own the Trust Fund
Bayelsa State Governor, Honourable Seriake
Dickson on Tuesday, urged the private sector,
particularly corporate organizations and individuals to make contributions to
the State Education Development Trust Fund to enable indigent children acquire
free and qualitative education.
Governor Dickson stated this when members of the Board of the Education
Development Trust Fund, led by its Chairman, Prof. Turner Isoun presented the
2017 report of the board to him in Government House, Yenagoa.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to
the Governor, Mr. Francis Ottah Agbo, said the programme is targeted at
delivering what he calls, "the democratization of knowledge" in the
state.
Calling on the people of the state to take ownership
of the education programme, Governor Dickson noted that, the Education
Development Trust Fund was aimed at strengthening education, where children are
drawn from indigent backgrounds towards increasing the literacy level.
Commending the Chairman and members of the board for
the prudent management of the funds, he directed the board in collaboration
with the Ministries of Information and Orientation as well as Education
Ministry to create the necessary awareness on the need for people to identify
with the education policy.
His words: "I call on our people to own this
programme, which is for your benefit. This programme is to deepen education and
deliver what, I always call, the democratization of knowledge, where we
are taking children from the underprivileged circumstances and backgrounds and
putting them in boarding secondary schools and taking responsibility for their
feeding, clothing, books and everything."
"We are doing that now and the schools are in
all the local government areas and we are still working on more. I call on the
Board to increase their enlightenment. I want to direct the Commissioner for
Education and Ministry of Information also to jointly, working together with
the board, to increase the awareness on behalf of the people about the
benefits of this programme and then, most importantly, about their duties.
"I also want to use this opportunity to call
on the private sector, especially, the international oil companies that have
been making billions of dollars on this soil without giving much back. I want
to call for collaboration."
"I have mandated the chairman and the board to establish contacts with all
local and international companies that are operating in this state to assess
and impose a special levy.
"The law provides for the board to assess and levy individuals and leaders
of this state irrespective of where they may reside. We expect the board to do
more especially in the area of increasing their dragnet."
Presenting the annual report, Chairman of the Education Development Trust Fund
Board, Prof. Turner Isoun, said the board had a receipt of about N800 million
out of which, N300 million was spent leaving a balance of N500 million.
Prof. Isoun said the fund would go a long way in addressing the challenges in
the education sector and assist the people participate effectively in a
knowledge-driven economy.
In an interview with newsmen shortly after the presentation of the report, the
Commissioner for Education, Honourable Jonathan Obuebite and his Information
and Orientation counterpart, Honourable Daniel Iworiso Markson, said the fund
was instituted to ensure sustainability of the gains in the education sector as
well as secure the future of the children.
Describing the educational programme as highly commendable. They added that
with the fund in place, indigent children would have easy access to free
quality education.
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