By Emuji Magnus
Effective and efficient delivery of government policies and programmes is perceived to transverse various sectors of the economy.
This perception, thus implies that one segment of governance is as relatively Important as others. Moreover, the education sector, no doubt, is sacrosanct and critical as it forms one of key indices for the assessment of the success of any government in addition to physical infrastructure.
Henceforth, enormous responsibility to accord the education sector, huge priority attention, though not to the detriment or expense of other key areas of governance. Regarded universally, as the catalyst and bedrock of sustainable development, because of the pivotal influence on the success of other sectors towards the actualisation of the policy direction of government.
Therefore, by way of emphasis any genuine government that has the interest of the citizenry at heart must place high premium on issues that concern the sector as well as measures aimed at strengthening the growth and development of education.
Great minds consider education as crucial pillar that has the available credentials to turn around the fortune of the society. Again, the point one is tending to drive here is that the level of attention government gives to the sector should be such that would be overwhelming as the future of the society depends on the quality of the education that is provided younger generation .
Education should not only be accessible and affordable but also the children should be exposed to sound teaching and learning.
Against the backdrop of the afore stated, the Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa in constituting members of his State Executive Council in his second term administration, was very careful as has been his tradition while giving appointment, for it right with the choice of Chief Patrick Ukah as the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education.
The gesture could best be described as a crown for competence, hard work and effective service delivery through the recognition of a quintessential information manager, an advocate of professionalism and multi-talented technocrat to pilot the affairs of the State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
To put the records straight, Chief Patrick Ukah, a grassroots politician and community leader who hails from Okpanam community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, prior to his appointment as the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, was the immediate past Commissioner for Information where he recorded unprecedented achievements.
Chief Patrick Ukah is one personality in Okowa administration with huge reservoir of experience and human resources, and a man that is undeniably vast with the policy direction of the Okowa -led administration. Owing to his performance in the first tenure, particularly in the area of his modest contributions in turning around the state owned media organs and foe being a dependable mouthpiece of government at that time.
Today, Mr. Charles Aniagwu , an all round journalist with several monumental legacies and impact that are quite inspiring not only to the plethora of pen-pushers within and outside the state but all individuals especially the youths who stepped into the shoe as the Chief Patrick Ukah as the Commissioner for Information.
The appointment of Chief Patrick Ukah and Mr. Charles Aniagwu was received with wide jubilation from far and near including the kimgsmen, associates particularly the media community.
The good thing about the appointment of these two humble gentlemen is that even those who may not have had the opportunity of meeting them one -on -one also celebrated them apparently because of the sound work they had been doing before and during this Okowa administration.
Following their recognition, there were series of appreciation through commendations and good will messages to His Excellency , the Governor, largely from good spirited individuals, the communities, the media and the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) because the duo of Chief Patrick Ukah and Mr. Charles Aniagwu is their own.
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa may not have exhausted so much of his precious time in shopping for a credible hand to man the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education after he had elevated the ex-while Education Commissioner,, Mr. Chiedu Ebie ,,Esq to the most coveted position of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).
This is as a result of the well established fact, that the calibre of individuals he needed to form his government was readily available and the option of Chief Patrick Ukah could be described as a step in the right direction given his pedigree and commitment to the delivery of the stronger Delta vision of the Okowa administration.
Not unaware of where the present administration is headed, particularly in the education sector, Chief Patrick Ukah had remained resolute and irrevocably committed to taking the sector to enviable heights in the state.
Poised to get results by adding value to governance, Chief Patrick Ukah, a renowned administrator, sagacious and articulate personality shortly after hitting the ground running in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, had is strongly striving to bring certain innovations that would change the story of the education sector in Delta State.
Top among his achievements is the reorientation of the mindset of teachers across the state to change their negative attitude towards their work and ensure that they are more dedicated to their duties so that the students could maximise the benefits of government’s efforts in the sector.
Before now, some teachers uphold the practice of impunity in their activities as most of them had continued to exhibit lackadaisical attitude to work.
They do not attach the required passion and commitment to the demands of their chosen profession rather most of them engage in moonlighting at the expense of the children who would not be effectively and efficiently taught and this ugly trend is in all ramifications, antithetical to the growth of our educational system not only in the state but Nigeria at large.
In most cases, greater number of teachers especially in the remotest area does not even cover their syllabuses while relative population of them may go to class at will, any time they like.
The above short comings are necessitated by act of total negligence by the school heads who do not consider it as a point of duty to checkmate the activities of the teachers in their schools. However, through consistent tracking, effective monitoring and supervision indiscipline and lack of ethical commitments to their profession could be tackled.
Besides changing the mindset of teachers in the state towards embracing handwork as a systematic approach for the education sector, particularly the public schools to reclaim its pride of place, Chief Patrick Ukah had instituted discipline in the system.
Today, teachers in the public schools are now waking up gradually by showing more commitment to their duty. They henceforth carry out their official responsibility with resilience and sincerity, it is expected that should sustain the tempo for the interest of the improvement of the education sector.
Another milestone of Chief Patrick Ukah as the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education is that of ensuring that students are not subjected to unnecessary extortion.
He had already put measures in place to ensure that only the approved levies are paid by the children and nothing more as against what had been the tradition of some school heads in the past that were alleged to have been involved in such nefarious activities.
The Commissioner, within this short period of time had brought it to an end.
To the Commissioner who is determined to change the narratives, illegal collection of levies were tantamount to portraying government in negative lights in one way or the other.
Continuous monitoring and supervision is germane, thus its importance could not be underscored. For instance, through this initiative one would be able ascertain whether or not any progress had been recorded and with regards to monitoring and supervision of school activities, it would provide the Commissioner and other stakeholders with the opportunity to gauge the level of compliance by the teachers, school heads and other team players, of the policies of government.
In view of the foregoing, the State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah in the same vein, brought his ingenuity to bear on the State educational system with robust monitoring of the way public schools are being run by the school heads.
The driving force behind Chief Patrick Ukah’s passion to contribute his quota towards the reawakening the system from navigating into perpetual doldrums notwithstanding assisting Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to actualise his mandate in the sector is that his actions are in tandem with the reality that in issues concerning teaching and learning, every individual has a role to play .
A good administrator does not work in isolation; he or she needs ream cohesion and spirit to succeed in whatever task.
To this end, Chief Patrick Ukah irrespective of his wealth of ability coupled with high measure of competence equally harps on collective synergy among his team.
His approach could be described as a step in the right direction because as the saying goes: ”The strength of a people depends on their unity”.
Chief Patrick Ukah is an advocate of professionalism. As a deliberate effort to entrench professionalism, the Commissioner had ceaselessly, emphasised the strong need for all teachers to possess minimum qualifications in education.
The administrator of Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa is intended to impact on Deltans and this it is already surpassing all expectations and one way of achieving that is through rural dwellers’ feeling this impact the more.
It could be recalled that the state government made it mandatory for virtually all the recently employed to commence their service in grassroots areas.
The essence of this is for them to add value with their knowledge on the lives of the children in their places of primary assignment.
This stern measure would not only address the shortage of the teaching staff in such areas, but also enhance qualitative teaching and learning activities.
There is no gainsaying the fact that private school owners otherwise known as proprietors are key players in the education sector and their activities including learning environment could impact either positively or negatively on the system. And this is part of the reasons government is much concerned about the way they operate in the state.
Chief Patrick Ukah as part of his concerted effort to stem the tide in the sector in order to give the sector a facelift, again, is so enthusiastic about the conducive learning environment of private schools in the state, brainstorming with them on ways of moving the sector forward through collaboration and other sundry issues and this informed an all important meeting he had with Association of Private School Owners in the state recently.
Most private schools are often accused of exposing children to unconducive atmosphere of learning. At the end the children who deserve quality education are at the receiving end. It is no longer surprise to note that the sole aim of private schools owners is the make profit careless of the consequences of their overzealousness on the overall well being of the society as they appear not to have the interest of the students at heart but allows their personal interest to supersede the interest of the society in some cases.
In order to ensure that all the stakeholders both in the public and private schools conform with the stronger Delta mantra of our amiable Governor, it is recommended that the vigorous monitoring and supervision being championed by the workaholic Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education Chief Patrick Ukah should be sustained. In addition, the interface with the Private School Owners which he has initiated must be consistent in his bid to sanitize the system.
