Immediately he assumed office as the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo began to show interest in the education sector across all levels.
Keen interests have observed that he has not dropped the tempo with which he took matters relating to education in Kogi right from the inception of his administration which is 6 months old now.
In an earlier article, I noted that the Governor had hit the ground running in many areas, particularly, in ensuring more development in education infrastructure and improving manpower.
That time, I mentioned his personal inspection of ongoing works at the campus of Kogi State University, Kabba; and how he gave marching orders to those concerned on quality and timelines.
Recall also that this year, all secondary students in public schools in the state had their WAEC and JAMB fees paid by the Ododo-led government.
In addition, the primary school workers began to receive full salaries despite daunting financial constraints. It was meant to encourage full commitment to duties among the teachers. I labelled those as signs of good things for a start.
Now, for the good of the state tertiary education, Governor Usman Ododo refused to be an arm-chair Chief Executive. He chose to be on the field to see things for himself. Thus, recently, he again paid an unscheduled visit to the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, to inspect ongoing projects.
While commending the contractor, the Flower Boy did not mince words on his insistence on high quality, the very quality bequethed him by his predecessor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello. It therefore means that any contractor who fell short of specifications would be shown the way out.
The last visit would be the second within two months plus in a row. This is aside his adequate representation in all other relevant assignments in the Ministry of Education by his Commissioner, Hon Wemi Jones, and other relevant stakeholders.
What does this signify? Surely, our education is in the hand of a man who places premium on it.
All we need do therefore, is to cooperate with him and support the government. Every hand must be on the deck for our educational institutions to thrive.
Teachers at all levels must be up and doing. Students must be studious. Parents must play their parental role of proper upbringing. And Governor Ododo is already flying the flag of government correctly.
The results are obvious: excellent performances in both internal and external examinations and placing Kogi among the top in educational rankings in Nigeria and the world.
I’m very sure those are the dreams of His Excellency, Ahmed Usman Ododo, for Kogi State. May we get there.
Dr Gabriel Ottah was the Special Adviser to the former Governor of Kogi State on Education.