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By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt
Governorship candidate of the Accord Party in Rivers State in the 2023 general elections, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, has said that the high cost of getting quality education in Nigeria is contributing to widening the gap between the rich and poor in the society.
Speaking in Port Harcourt at the finals of the Education Champion League Quiz Competition among secondary schools at the weekend Lulu Briggs noted that getting quality education is now very expensive.
He lamented that situation has widened the gap between the rich and the poor, calling on well-meaning individuals to support the government in that direction.
Lulu-Briggs who is one of the sponsors of the competition, stressed the imperatives of quality education to grow the next generation of leaders in Rivers state, in particular and Nigeria in general.
He said that educating the next generation of leaders should be the paramount responsibility of government and all concerned persons for a better society.
He said there was need for a secured future for the state and nation through qualitative educational system.
He said: “I need everyone of us and government inclusive to begin to understand the need to educate the next generation because as a government you have no greater responsibility than to educate the next generation”.
“We all must rise up to the pressing challenge of providing quality education for all.
“Our government must be supported, encouraged to succeed and to build in each and everyone of us, that sense of a common future because all of us desire the same thing, to have the same aspirations and so they must accord to everyone of us a fair chance of success in this race of life,” he stated.
While congratulating the winners in the competition, Lulu-Briggs regretted that premium was no longer placed on things that impact most on the society.
He pledged to support the competition and expand it to local communities, saying; “We must encourage this competition because we don’t see any reason why the Big Brother shows will have so much prizes and intellectual competition like this don’t get as much attention”.
Speaking on behalf of the Education Champions League, organizers of the quiz, Wenenda Wali, announced plans to expand the competition to the entire Rivers State.
This follows the success of the competition which was concluded at the weekend in the Rivers State capital with only schools within the Port Harcourt metropolis participating.
He said that the success of this maiden edition has made the organizers to decide on expanding on competition to accommodate more schools
“We will expand to ensure that more schools participate”, he said calling on graduates from different schools in the state to encourage their alma maters to register in next edition which would likely open by the first quarter of 2024.
He announced that sponsors have graciously decided to increase the prize money “so it’s more money next year more effort next year and the dream will be there”
He also pointed out that the competition is open saying; “Every school in Rivers State for logistic reasons, it would have been every school around this region. Let’s be able to manage what we have, not get beyond our reach and spread it so big that we’ll not be able to manage it”.
He decried situations where individuals and corporate organizations devote much money to less beneficial causes and called for more support to the competition because of its huge benefits to the society.
Wali said; “People are rewarded with such fantastic amounts of money for less rewarding things to the society while academic things that will grow society, has merely enough.
So we’re determined to make the prize attractive, and we want to make it better, bigger. But we would like to encourage people, society in general, to be part of this kind of effort. We don’t have to rely on government for everything. yes so government has abandoned this but in other places these are private sector driven projects you understand all of the big other things and it’s private sector so if people get involved you put in more money you increase the interest and society will be better for it
On his part, a former Executive Vice President, Upstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, of NNPCL, and co-sponsor of the competition, Engr Adokiye Tombomieye, said the competition has the capacity of grooming future leaders for the state and country.
He said: “With what I have seen here in the last two hours, I think there is hope for this country. What we have seen is that hard work pays. This children were given a task and we can see how well they have delivered and what that means is that if we also give them power, position of leadership, they can also do it better”.
He charged guests at the event to give back to their alma mater by sponsoring academic activities there and also encouraging them to be part of the Port Harcourt Education Champions League.
At the end of the very engaging and spirited competition, Government Girls Secondary School, Abuloma, emerged overall winners among the four finalists going home with N10 million prize money.
They defeated Seacrest Preparatory School, Aladumo International School and Enitona High School who placed second, third and fourth with prizes of N5 million for second position, N2.5 million for third and N1.5 million for the fourth placed schools respectively.
An excited Ebere Oroma Lee, who spoke on behalf of the winners expressed appreciation to God for making them winners.
“We are grateful to God for everything that he has done for us, for bringing us this far.
Above all, we are very happy that we were able to make our families, our friends and our teachers proud because they put in a lot of effort to help us out on this journey.
“To the organizers of this competition, I’m very grateful to them. I appreciate their efforts for making out time and making out enough money for all of this, for spending a lot in our lives, for also motivating us.
“I’m very grateful to them. I also ask them to keep the flag flying, to keep encouraging young ones around the world because this journey has really made a lot of impact in our lives.
“Look at where education has brought us all. If not for education, we would not be here”.
“Go and read your books. Enjoy your life. Education will never leave you”, she advised her peers.
