Gov Udom Emmanuel: Guaranteeing Tomorrow Through Education

By Joe Iniodu

A popular aphorism posits that while archetypal politicians think about the next election, statesmen think about the next generation. This principle cuts across all facets of leadership with the few exceptions exemplified in leaders possessed of vision.

Governor Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State is a model in the leadership that thinks beyond election with mental forays into succeeding generations. His leadership style typifies a man with unbridled determination to build a State beyond the now and it on an enviable pedestal of pride for coming generations.

One of the core sectors of human endeavor which ensures accelerated development is education. Aside from its human development index, capacity building and manpower development, education, it must be stated , can also regulate behavioural dispositions and make the citizenry more amenable and law abiding.

The critical value of education to every society is perhaps why the United Nation through one its organs, the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, perhaps recommended that at-least 26% of national budget be allocated to education. Flowing from the recommendation, it is expected that all the tiers of government must equally implement the same recommendation.

In Akwa Ibom State, Governor Udom Emmanuel seems to be working in strict compliance with the UNESCO prescriptions. Driven majorly by the quest to build a society where the majority would be meaningfully engaged, he also appears to be conscious of the fact that education being the pride of any progressive society, holds the key that would unlock the future to opportunities, economic prosperity and social well- being of the society. Impressed by the unalterable value of education, the governor has invested heavily in the sector and often describes any expenditure on education as an investment, not an expense.

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