THE vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has said his missing high school result was the second-best in Nigeria in 1976.
Okowa also said he was 22 years when he graduated from the University of Ibadan where he read Medicine and Surgery.
The governor’s claim that his West Africa School Certificate (WASC) certificate was missing in the Independent National Electoral Form (INEC) form he filled as part of the prerequisites for his participation in the 2023 poll has attracted mixed reactions.
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Addressing journalists on Tuesday after inspecting projects at the Delta State University of Science and Technology, he said he did not boast about his feat as a high school student but it was very difficult to make such grades in higher school then.
“Yes, I lost my WASC certificate. But I have the printout from Edo College, Benin City, which clearly stated that I have a distinction in all subjects,” the government told the reporters, according to a statement by the Press Unit of the Delta State Government House in Asaba.
He added: “The Higher School Certificate was attached, and it has been acknowledged by Edo College, and the school put it out there that I made an ‘A’ ‘B’ ‘B’…
“My high school result was the second-best nationally in 1976 when I finished. So, many universities admitted me through Telegram at that time, and I had to start making choices of which to accept,”
Meanwhile, Okowa appealed to the Federal Government to appease the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), whose members have been on strike for nearly five months, resulting in the shutting down of many public universities in the country.
He described the failure of the government to meet the union’s demands as ‘unfortunate.’
“For every government, if promises are made, we must ensure that we keep to our promises, and if there are things that cannot be done, you let people know, he said.
According to him, all the four state-owned universities in the state have maintained uninterrupted academic activities because his government places a high premium on education.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].