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Niger pupils resume January 25

By Bala Yahaya (Minna) and Ibrahim Obansa (Lokoja)
18 January 2021   |   3:09 am
Primary and secondary school pupils in Niger State will resume academic activities on January 25, 2021.

Old students beg Bello to spare Okene college

Primary and secondary school pupils in Niger State will resume academic activities on January 25, 2021.

In a statement at the weekend, the Commissioner for Education, Hajiya Hanatu Salihu, disclosed that shift from the earlier date of January 18 (today) was to enable all schools to emplace necessary coronavirus disease (COVID-19) safety measures, while parents, students and pupils prepare to comply with the protocols.

She said that the state government had been monitoring national and local trends of the pandemic to guarantee safety of school managers and teachers as well as students, assuring that government was approaching the challenges posed by the pandemic with caution.

MEANWHILE, the Okene Secondary School Old Students Association (OSSOSA) has appealed to Governor Yahaya Bello not to turn the school to a military barracks, but spare it as one of the legacy colleges of the old Northern Nigerian Government.

The association made the appeal in a statement signed by its national president, Abubakar Abdulsalam, in Lokoja.

It said the school, known as Okene Teachers College before 1970, had produced a lot of great Nigerians in all fields of human endeavour.

“There is no doubt that the institution has produced a lot of personalities, who are doing it proud in several areas both at home and abroad.

“One of such was the late Alhaji Bello Ochi (Governor Bello’s father). May his gentle soul rest in perfect peace. May God reward him for his love for the children of other parents he laboured to cater for while in the school as an employee,” Abdulsalam stated.

The association thanked Bello for the appointment of Prof. Salawu Sadiku, an old student of the school, as pioneer Vice Chancellor of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, in Kogi Central.

It described the appointment as a good one, adding that the appointee was eminently qualified academically and had, over the years, garnered the necessary cognate experience for the task ahead.

“We thank you for providing us the opportunity to showcase the stuff the products of the great Iresu-pogo College are made of through the appointment of Prof. Sadiku.

“We, the old students, pledge to collaborate with the government to turn around the fortunes of the school and continue to make it a centre of excellence that it has always been known for,” the alumni pledged.

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