Echoes from the Conference hall on MDGs in Owerri

Emeka Ibemere

It was the gathering of the intellectuals in Imo State, when Professors, lecturers, political think-tanks, teachers, educators, various men of God and parents gathered at the 2014 National Tertiary Educators Conference on Millennium Development Goals, otherwise known as, MDGs, organized by the Global Educators for All Initiative at Owerri, capital of Imo State, South-East Nigeria.

The guest speakers and the eggheads from various tertiary institutions that littered in and outside Owerri, brainstormed on the social ills bedevilling Nigeria and Imo State, in particular and all suggested several ways to curb the ills of the society. The event took place on Monday 4th August, 2014.

Former Minister for Education, Prof Fabian Osuji, speaking at the conference on the ways of ending societal ills that has sunk deep into the society, and eroding good societal values, said the country needs a change of attitude.

While identifying several factors responsible for the failure of the Nigerian society in recent times, Prof Fabian Osuji, former Minister of Education in his keynote address, opined that for national development to be achieved in Nigeria, researchable works and learned conference must be sponsored for educators to equip themselves with the current global best practices on education, entrepreneurship, politics, and public service. This, he asserted, would help raise future leaders whose watchword would be selfless service driven by competence and patriotism.

In his speech, a frontline Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governorship aspirant in Imo State, Mr. Ken Ojiri pointedly accused parents, teachers and role models for the failure of the Nigerian Society.

He reasoned that the family was the basic unity of society, and if parents have played their God-given role of raising the children, that the society would be proud of, the society would witness fewer vices to grapple with.

The PDP Guber aspirant advocates societal rebirth According to him, parents are to blame for lack of role models in political, traditional and religious leaders- for exhibiting wrong influence which have taken a great toll on the psyche of our youths, saying if more parents play their role well in this special areas of the society, that the society would be better.

Speaking through his Media Chief, Nnamdi Cos-Ukwuoma at the event where he was conferred with the honour of Millennium Development Ambassador, Ojiri lamented the extreme decay in our society as a result of abdication of roles by parents, teachers and leaders.

“As parents, teachers and leaders, we must make our influence, positive influence count, not mere rhetoric”, he said.

According to him, children should be helped to develop their unique personalities and inherited potentials and talents, with the fear of God.

He counselled teachers, who form the first strong influence on the child outside family members to be conscious of their roles to the society, insisting that the sorry state of our society today was as a result of failure of parents, teachers and role models.

He enjoined parents to fulfil their roles to the society by exhibiting positive influence, as the task of raising the ideal child is their first and foremost responsibility that rests solely on them.

Ojiri also suggested that educators should liaise with responsible authorities to ensure that the right content of moral values is added in the educational curriculum and above all, exhibit positive influence on the people they teach, averring that a child wrongly educated is a child lost.

He thanked the Organizers for the award and asked them to always count on his support.

Ambassador Chief Livinus Ebo, who chaired the event, in his opening remarks thanked the participants for responding to the clarion call for participation in the conference. He urged them to deliberate critically on the issues at stake and come up with a result which could help the government in her quest to rebuild the grossly dilapidated education sector in Nigeria, a situation he described as the cause of retardation in the country’s economic growth.

Ambassador Mrs. Mgbengasha Apakama, Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee for the conference, in her welcome address deplored the apathy the public has towards conferences, stressing that conferences of this nature should not be seen as concerning educators alone.

She commended participants drawn from various institutions of higher learning within Nigeria for coming, despite obvious economic constraints occasioned by industrial actions in most tertiary institutions in the country.

Mrs. Apakama insisted that educators should rather prefer to be called and addressed as teachers than as lecturers, as according to her, the term ‘teacher’ is all-embracing while ‘lecturer’ refers to one performing an integral aspect of teaching functions.

The conference with the broad theme: MDGs (2014-2015): Empowering Educators with Sustainable Strategies for National Development, among other things sought to empower tertiary educators with the needed skills to advance the course of MDGs in Nigeria and to celebrate outstanding tertiary educators who are committed to the realization of MDGs in Nigeria. The conference was well attended by participants who travelled long distances across Nigeria.

Apart from the presentation of learned papers on many sub-themes, which included such topics as MDGs, tertiary educators and human capital development, MDGs and human rights education, MDGs and agriculture, MDGs and entrepreneurial studies, etc.., by erudite scholars, it also witnessed the award of Millennium Development Ambassadors to five deserving individuals; four drawn from the academia and one from the public sector.

In another development, Mr. Ken Ojiri, a PDP Governorship aspirant received a boost to his guber ambition when he was encouraged by a delegation of the parish council and prominent members of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish, Owerri-Ebe-iri in the Diocese of Orlu who paid him a ‘Thank You’ visit in his country home at Owalla-Uratta in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State.

 Speaking to the delegation team who visited him in his office, Mr Ojiri called on Christians to be united in love and oneness of purpose, saying all Christians, irrespective of denomination is one in Christ.

He commended the dutifulness, spirit of service and friendliness of the leadership of the parish and assured them of his continued support, saying the most rewarding investment is that made in the House of God.

The Parish Rector, Rev. Fr. Desmond Edozie, who led the delegation commended Ojiri’s deep humility and empathy and thanked him for his demonstration of love and kindness to their parish even as he prayed God to grant him protection, guidance and more blessings.

He also presented a gift of the Holy Bible to the charismatic young politician, saying the Holy Bible was to strengthen and surround him with the word of God.

Earlier in his speech, the Parish Council Chairman, Chief Faustinus Okorie expressed gratitude of the Catholic community of Our Lady of Lourdes to Ojiri for his unreserved generosity to their parish.

 “We are very grateful to this distinguished young man, not only for his generosity but love and kindness to us. He has helped in transforming our parish church which made our church to be the best portable pro-cathedral in Orlu Diocese.

“He is a man of the people. That made us to give him the title ‘Good -Friend of the Parish’ (Ezi Enyi), we are presenting a gift of white ram to you, specifically as a symbol of purity, in demonstration of our heartfelt joy and gratitude”, he stated.

“Abraham used a white ram to offer a sacred sacrifice to God. And that is why we chose to present a white ram to sanctify your aspiration. We ask Almighty God to bless your ambition for the good of Imo people. We also thank our amiable son, Sir Canice Okorie, for bringing Ojiri to his people. We wouldn’t have discovered this God-sent man without him”.

Also Speaking, Nnaoma Chief Goddy Obinero thanked Ojiri and prayed God to grant him his desire to be the Chief servant of our great State come 2015.

Meanwhile, Ojiri’s entry into the governorship race in Imo State has continued to elicit accolades from youths in the State following an award of honour conferred on him by PDP Students Forum.