The Publisher, Members of Editorial Board, Management and Staff of Ika Weekly Newspaper, congratulate Hon. (Mrs.) Rose Ezewu, on her recent appointment as the Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education.
Looking at your profile in the public domain, we can say without mincing words that the Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration did not make a mistake in your choice.
Again, even as we celebrate your appointment, there are already signs that you are mindful of the enormous task ahead of you in the ministry.  This belief of ours stemmed from your reported call upon the assumption of office, on all hands to be on deck towards driving the education sector to an enviable height in line with the SMART Agenda of Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration.
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Beyond this call, while your appointment is of particular interest to the entire Ika Weekly Newspaper family is that, for a very long time, we have canvassed that the future of the state is full of promises as it is fraught with uncertainty. And for us to build the Delta state of our dreams, we must learn to be part of the knowledge-based world by recognizing that the conventional leadership system is giving way to the one based on knowledge.
The Newspaper management also views as true the claim that with sound educational institutions and infrastructure, a state is as good as made, as the institutions will turn out all rounded manpower to continue with the development of the state-driven by well-thought ideas, policies projects, and programmes’.-that when you train a man, you liberate him.
With the above highlighted, let’s bring to your notice the issue of the moment.
Our Dear Honourable Commissioner, It’s not as if the state has not in the past made an appreciable effort to improve the education sector in the state, but, such effort, in reality, appears too narrow, insufficient, and not in compliance with international best practice.
Take, as an illustration, today, many children are out of school in the state not because they are not willing to be educated but because the cost of education is beyond the reach of their parents. The statistics of children classified as the children of fishermen and other less-privileged that are not cared for educationally are still high, staggering and mind-numbing. If you are in doubt, we humbly request that you pay a working visit to the coastal part of the state for an objective assessment of our claim. They need attention. We hold the opinion that it will be highly rewarding if your attention is directed towards taking care of this group of people.
That is not the only concern.
The public schools (primary and secondary) across the state as you are well aware are short of teachers and dotted with dilapidated buildings.
Very instructive, even as you need ample courage to attract funds to the educational sector in the state to take care of the educational needs of our children, it may interest you also to know that the factors that led to the ghastly experience recorded at Okotie Eboh Primary school, Sapele area of the state, some years ago, are still alive and active in many primary and secondary schools in the state.
Why you need to take action in this direction is that any plan that the government has for the youths without a quality education is a share waste of time. Second and very fundamental, without accessible and affordable education in the state, the children take to the streets where all forms of criminals and other social misfits who pose the actual threats in the forms of armed robbery thugs, drug abusers and other social ills that give bad names to the society are bred.
As you settle down to provide leadership in the sector, we are of the strong view that Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, the Executive Governor of the state, has thrust yet, another responsibility on you -an extremely important destiny; to complete a process of education rejuvenation which we have spent far too long a time to do.
If accomplished, it will be your most powerful achievement for earning new respect and emulation. And if you fail, it will equally go down the anal of history.
Finally, while we again congratulate you for this feat, the Newspaper will in the interim, urge/challenge you to make history by helping Delta become the pioneer state in Nigeria to comply with the UNESCO budgetary requirement of 26% of the state’s budget.