A few days ago, ahead of his 66th birthday, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, sent out word appealing to good-spirited members of the public intending to celebrate him on his birthday to channel all gifts and donations to Roseluyi Exceptional Students Academy in Benin City.
Obaseki made the appeal through a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, reiterating his commitment to the development of every child and his desire to contribute to the success of Roseluyi Exceptional Students Academy which, according to him, “has demonstrated excellent capacity in the development of children with special needs”.
Roseluyi Exceptional Students Academy is a school for children with special needs and, according to the management, the school has about 35 students, both boarding and day. There is a fish pond with 2,900 fingerlings, and there is poultry with 700 birds. There is also a vocational centre where students are taught tailoring, shoe-making, make-up, barbing, and more. The students are from Edo and Delta States but the school hopes to get students from across Nigeria in due course.
The governor’s decision to celebrate his birthday in this way, to make it a “unique celebration to honour the children with special needs in the state”, does not come as a surprise. His commitment to improving the lives of young people has never been in doubt, but it is even more pronounced when those young people have special needs.
To buttress this point, Governor Obaseki was physically present when Roseluyi Exceptional Students Academy was launched in Benin City in 2021. Speaking at that event, he said, “I am here today to celebrate with you and inaugurate this school, which is for the vulnerable, the weak and disadvantaged in the society. As far as I am concerned, this is what politics and governance should be about. Government should not be for the strongest or wealthiest but for those at the bottom and those who need help. For us in government, the needs of special children are top of our priority.”
Since then, the governor has not stopped supporting the school to cater for the children. This much was attested to by the Founder of Roseluyi Exceptional Students Academy (RESA), Osarhiemen Rosemary Isaac-Aluyi, who, ahead of the Governor’s birthday, thanked him for his support to the school and for his continuous support for the less privileged in the society. She also used the opportunity to buttress the governor’s appeal, outlining some of the dire needs of the school.
“We can’t do it alone but need help from good Nigerians as we have 10 classrooms but not all are furnished. We need chairs, television sets, and computers in all the classes, as we need to use these learning aids to help them learn fast,” the Founder told journalists in Benin City.
“We spend money buying the medication they need because they take a lot of medication which is very expensive. We take them on routine medical checkups at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital as we collaborate with them to help us subsidize the checkup. We need a lot of equipment, especially in the vocational center like machines for various vocations,” she said.
But, as already alluded to, Governor Obaseki’s commitment to creating opportunities for young people to have a better life does not end with just those with special needs. The governor has in the last over six years invested massively in the development of children through education. His administration’s education reforms are encapsulated in the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST), which currently benefits over 300,000 pupils in the state’s 1,500 public primary and junior secondary schools and some 15,000 government teachers.
In doing this, the governor has his eyes fixed on the beautiful future that lies ahead of these young ones if they are equipped with good education. In an interview in December 2022, he pointed to the ongoing transformation in the state’s education sector as a major legacy he would want to leave behind. He said, “I want to be remembered in one, two or three generations from now by that Edo child who benefitted from the world-class education delivered in our public schools. He or she will look back and say, ‘Thank God we had a Governor like Governor Obaseki who made it possible’.”
But while that future is being awaited, the results are tumbling in. This can be seen in the amazing feats that students of Edo origin have achieved just in the past few weeks. From Edo-born Stephen Aguele who emerged the second-best candidate in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organized by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) with a score of 358 to Aminat Yusuf who set a record at Lagos State University (LASU), graduating with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 5.0, it has been from glory to higher glory. And the way the Edo State Government has honoured Aminat Yusuf for her academic accomplishment, offering her automatic employment in the State Civil Service and a scholarship through her one-year Nigerian Law School programme, is a testimony on its own.
To crown it all, three 15-year-old secondary school students of Anglican Girls Grammar School (AGGS), Benin City – Theresa John Parkson, Benita Omosefe Omonzejele, and Best Osasogie Edobor – having beaten all the schools in the South-South region in the 2023 MTN Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) National Quiz Competition, went ahead to represent the region at the finale held in Abuja, where they brought pride to the state by clinching the second position out of the six best schools that emerged from the six geo-political regions of the country.
But what is even more interesting is that these outstanding students recognized the impact the transformative education reforms implemented by Governor Obaseki have had on their intellectual development as well as the role they played in their victory at the national quiz contest. Speaking to journalists in Benin City after their successful outing, one of the girls, Best Osasogie Edobor, appreciated the governor for prioritizing investment in education, noting that the government’s digital teaching contributed immensely to their success at the national competition.
“The reforms by the Governor have raised the bar for education in Edo State, ensuring that we receive a quality education that is on par with international standards. I am especially impressed with the digital teaching methods across schools in the State and immensely grateful to the governor for his transformative initiatives, which have enabled us to compete and achieve outstanding results at the national level,” she said.
It is not for nothing that EdoBEST has continued to receive commendations globally, from the World Bank to the Government of India, down to the Federal Government of Nigeria and states of the federation who are desirous of learning from and adapting the EdoBEST model. What better gift can these young people give to Governor Obaseki on his birthday than to make him proud with their academic accomplishments, which also serve as assurance that the government has made the right investment?
What else can one say? Here are 66 hearty cheers for a man with a heart for every child’s development. May “your unwavering belief in the potential of every young person, regardless of their background or circumstances” – as Chairman of Edo Chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Moses Agwinede Joseph, articulated it – never wane!
