PATRICK ABANG, Calabar –
Barely one year after the death of Lauretta Amaka Ndoma-Egba, the former Senate leader and Chairman Board of Niger Delta Commission (NDDC), Victor Ndoma-Egba, has said all is set to establish an academy in honour of his late wife, who died last year in a ghastly motor accident along Okitiputa highway in Ondo State.
Ndoma-Egba disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after a memorial mass and dedication of St. Lauretta Chapel of Adoration in honour late wife Amaka who lost her life on November 19, 2020.
The former lawmaker who doubles as immediate past Secretary 2018 All Progressives Congress (APC) National Convention, disclosed that the academic establishment is a way to immortalize his late dear wife, which would help in boosting the nation’s knowledge economy.
According to him, the society has surpassed the level of worshipping God alone without providing good education to the younger generation, stressing that with the establishment of the academy, children residing within the church environment would have opportunity to attend school without trekking long distance to school.
“We’ve just gone to the next level of worship for the church, moving from just a church to where you have a chapel where people can come in at will to commune with God.
“So for me, we have just achieved one stage. I think, it is lifelong work. Now I’ve dedicated myself to full time public service and service of God. For me, mobilizing for the faith is a part of my day commitment for the next stage of my life.
“Not just mobilizing, not just evangelizing but also teaching our children because education is part of that mobilization. If children are not properly educated today, they are not likely going to compete with their peers favorably in today’s world. So education is going to be key factor of it.
”Well its just still at the thought stage. Yes we have advanced thinking to the point of getting the land. The bishop has given us approval in principle so the next thing is commissioning the designs and all of their way of building a school
“It is not just the block that makes the school. A lot goes into a school, first we are going to locate our teachers and from what kind of curriculum are you going to be running. Is it the British, Nigerian or America?
“It is going to be a combination. And then we thereafter find teachers who are specially trained for each of the curricula we intend to run. So starting a school is not a child’s play.
“You could have all the blocks, you may have all the buildings, without quality teachers nothing would work. I see all sorts of schools here. Polytechnics, colleges of education but when you go there, they are empty, because you can’t find the teachers.
“So as as you’re thinking through it, what kind of school, you’re also searching around to see what kind of teachers and you begin to isolate, identified them now and isolate them. It also is difficult to say this is the stage that we are”.
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