A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Anayo Onwuegbu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has pledged to partner with the National Teachers Institute (NTI) and the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) to eradicate illiteracy in his constituency in Enugu State.
Onwuegbu, representing Oji River-Awgu-Aninri Federal Constituency, made this pledge when officials and students of NTI and NABTEB at the Apugoeze Study Centre, Enugu, paid him a working visit in Enugu on Sunday.
The lawmaker noted that the partnership would promote a culture of writing and reading among rural dwellers in his constituency and provide access to education for financially disadvantaged persons.
He announced that he had paid for admission forms for 240 candidates selected from the three council areas of his constituency to cover the National Certificate on Education (NCE), Bachelor of Education, and the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programmes.
He also pledged to pay tuition fees for 300 candidates for the NTI program and an additional 300 for NABTEB students, including their exams and tuition for May/June 2024 examinations at Akpugoeze.
According to him, education is the greatest asset one can offer humanity, noting that while monetary aid may eventually diminish, acquired knowledge is permanent.**
While accepting the proposal to name the study centre after him, the legislator thanked the Centre’s Coordinator, Dr. Ben Onwudinjo, for his selfless service to humanity through education.
“I openly accept your proposal to name the centre after me, but the only thing I request from Dr. Onwudinjo is to fully carry out this assignment for the programme’s success in the constituency,” he said.
“I represent the Greater Awgu, and we cannot only have the centre in Akpugoeze. We must establish centres in the 41 wards we have because the targeted people live in rural areas.
“They go to their farms but also create time for learning. Let us capitalise on this project and hold it firmly; it is more important than citing projects that everyone talks about.
“You can build roads and even hospitals, but an illiterate mind is a sickness forever. Liberating an individual’s mind is far more important than any infrastructure available.”
Onwuegbu applauded NTI for the project and thanked the centre for identifying with the opportunity, assuring that he would partner with NTI and NABTEB to achieve it.
He urged the coordinator to seek the approval of the state government through the Ministry of Education, especially as the government was modernising education through SMART Schools, to bring them into the program for maximum benefits.
The Coordinator NTI, Enugu State, Mrs. Amaka Onyia, appealed to the lawmaker to support the study centre so that more students could be admitted to its 2024 programme.
She told Onwuegbu that by supporting the centre, illiteracy would be reduced in the constituency, explaining that many people dropped out of school due to financial constraints.**
“Supporting this program will increase their ability to read and write and also bring education to the doorstep of the rural people,” she told the lawmaker.**
Earlier, Onwudinjo said the visit aimed to formally present to Onwuegbu the scholarship scheme for his constituents as one of his constituency projects and the naming of the study centre as Anayo Onwuegbu Study Centre.**
“Your name appearing in their respective certificates from now on shall forever bear permanent golden testimonies to your contributions to humanity,” he added.
He explained that the centre already had 60 widows, orphans, dropouts, and indigent persons registered to study Pre-NCE, NCE, Degree, and PGDE through the Distance Learning Mode, starting in January.
The Coordinator explained that once their registration and tuition fees were paid, NTI would provide the students with the necessary books for their studies.
He estimated that within three years, the centre would be graduating 300 teachers annually, not only to meet local needs but also to become a source of educators for other parts of the state and beyond, with the support of the lawmaker.
NAN
