Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has urged the North to partner with the East by giving them education in exchange for farmers.
Okorocha made this statement in a release to newsmen by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, yesterday, in Owerri.
According to the release, Governor Okorocha spoke when the Executive Secretary of the National Commission on Colleges of Education, Prof. Aliyu Muhammadu, led a delegation from the body to pay him courtesy visit at the Government House, Owerri.
He said: “What the nation needs more at the moment are citizens who are Nigerians in spirit or at heart and not just those who are Nigerians in name, for the nation to make progress”, regretting that Nigerians of this generation have allowed religion and ethnicity to divide them.
“Until we have that, we may not be heading the proper direction. We have allowed religion and ethnicity to divide us, and so many sentiments of human existence to divide us, while the actual disease we have, which is poverty, we have not collectively tackled.
“Also, I am happy you have made people to understand that Alvan Ikoku College of Education is moving to a University of Education and there is need for replacement and that, we are doing speedily in trying to provide three colleges of education in the state.
“We promise to increase our speed in this regards. Our plan is to have three Colleges of Education, one in Okigwe, one in Orlu and one in Owerri.
Our plan is to finish them before we handover in 2019. We have an adequate partnership with your commission.” It was Okorocha’s view as captured by Onwuemeodo’s release that “the governor promised that before the commission comes back by December, they will see a massive improvement on what is on ground already and must be the pivot upon which other developments must evolve.
“I call for partnership with the North so that we can tap from each other. We can export education to the North through sending of teachers and they can equally export agriculture to us through the sending of farmers.”