Ortom laments rising insecurity in education sector

Gombe celebrates teenage science prodigy

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has lamented the rising wave of insecurity in the country, which has greatly affected the education sector.

Ortom stated his worries, yesterday, in his Gbajimba hometown, Guma Local Council, during the virtual commissioning and handing over of Government Science Secondary School.

The school, which is built by Chevron, Famfa, Prime, Equinor and some other oil firms as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), was equipped with modern facilities.

Lauding the oil companies for investing in the education sector, the governor noted that “education remains the bedrock for the development of any nation.”

On his part, Ortom pledged, on behalf of his government, to protect the facility and announced immediate perimeter fencing of the school.

“Security is a responsibility of every government. I appreciate the recent effort made by the Federal Government in nipping insecurity in the bud, especially in the state, but it should be sustained.

“I also appreciate the effort of security operatives, who are sacrificing their lives to ensure peace in our state. The Federal Government should embark on massive recruitment and adequate funding of security agencies, for the operatives to put in their best in securing the lives of Nigerians,” Ortom appealed.

MEANWHILE, Gombe State Government, yesterday, celebrated 17-year-old Sikiru Ismaila for emerging the Best Science Student in the North East and third in the country as a whole.

Sikiru, a Senior Secondary (SS2) student of Government Day Science Secondary School, Gombe (Science II), was also honoured with an hour phone-in radio programme in the state.

The Commissioners for Education, Batari Dauda; Information and Culture, Julius Ishaya; and Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Aishatu Maigari, agreed that Governor Muhammad Yahaya’s declaration of emergency in education had begun to pay off.

According to Dauda, the school has not only forcefully gained regional recognition, but “it has also featured on the national map, having emerged third at the national level where it competed with only public schools from all 774 local councils of the country.”

Sikiru had won the zonal contest at Jalingo, Taraba State, to qualify for the national grand finale in Abuja.

Prof. Maigari, in her opening remarks, said the school had been making the state proud in its representations, having come tops in the region last year.