EBONYI state governor Francis Nwifuru has said his administration would reactivate the state’s Scholarship Board as part of plans to address educational challenges in the state.
Nwifuru’s chief press secretary (CPS) Monday Uzor disclosed this in a statement he issued on Friday, June 23.
According to the statement, the governor decried the state of education in Ebonyi during a courtesy visit on him by the management and governing council of the Ebonyi State University and officials of the Abakaliki Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria.
“I want Ebonyi State University to be the best university. We have the capacity and we can do it. When it comes to the status of the university today, we are badly challenged. We are going to reactivate the Scholarship Board and we will get it right,” Nwifuru said.
The Scholarship Board was established to assist promising and indigent students access education. Its mission, as disclosed on its website, includes ensuring that “students/awardees do not suffer deprivation of academic activities as a result of non-prompt payment of tuition fees and living expenses.”
However, students have alleged abandonment by the state government in several cases.
In 2016, it was reported that 41 postgraduate Ebonyi students abroad who were beneficiaries of the scholarship accused the state government under the immediate past governor David Umahi of deserting them.
The students alleged that calls and messages to the government for tuition fees and living expenses went unanswered, as officials of the Scholarship Board claimed they had been barred from responding.
The Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in Diaspora (AEISCID) also criticised Umahi in 2022 for his attitude towards education after he said tertiary education was not for everybody.
Nwifuru expressed his readiness to resolve educational challenges in the state.
He also said a state of emergency would be declared on health in Ebonyi state.
“Many of the General Hospitals in the state are dead. How do we go about it?
“We need to have, at least, one functional hospital here in Abakaliki. With our collective support we will get it right,” he said.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.