By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – Concerned about the high rate of out of school children in Anambra State, the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 6, 2021 Anambra governorship race, Senator Andy Uba, has promised to turn the tide around if elected as Governor.
Uba gave the assurance while reacting to a report of a research which indicated that “many rural communities in the state suffer educational neglect,” leading to no fewer than 90,000 children being out of school.
“Quality education for our children is a major priority for me. We will renovate and reconstruct hundreds of our dilapidated schools and transform them into model schools and centres of excellence,” the APC gubernatorial hopeful said.
A statement signed by Hon. Victor Afam Ogene, on behalf of the Andy Uba Campaign Council (AUCO), quoted a nongovernmental organisation, Evidence and Collaboration for Inclusive Development, ECID, as having noted that “although there is free education policy in Anambra State, many parents claimed they were paying fees for their wards, especially at the secondary school level.
“It is quite worrisome because based on official statistics Anambra is one of the educationally advantaged states in the country. It is more worrying when you go into the field and see the wide gap existing between the rural and urban locations,” a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nigeria, Enugu campus, Dr. Ben Nwosu, was quoted to have said.
Dr. Nwosu worked with ECID, which is funded by the United Kingdom government and implemented by Christian Aid, a Nigerian based group.
The statement furthee said Senator Uba praised the efforts of the various missions in sustaining the high standards of education in the state, promising that, in addition to offering them increased support, as Governor, he would ensure public schools are at par with mission schools.
Anambra State’s Commissioner for Economic Planning, Budget and Development Partners, Mr. Mark Okoye, had assured while speaking on the findings of the research, that “the findings from the ECID programme would assist the state executive council in policy formulation and data planning.
However, “the Andy Uba Campaign Organisation queried the “sincerity of a government which left a problem to fester for seven years – with a questionable promise to redress same with only few months of it’s lifespan left,” the statement added.