Former
Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, on Tuesday celebrated the 2017 World
Freedom Day with pupils and students of Holy Family Secondary School, Sokoto, and
St. Patrick’s School, Illela, the border town between Sokoto and Niger
Republic.
Mr.
Obi said that his urge to celebrate the day in a remote part of Sokoto State
was a way of assuring the children of Nigeria wherever they are that somebody
cares for them and is always available to encourage them to take their
education seriously as education is the most important currency for competition
in the world.
While
in both schools, which have Nursery, Primary and secondary sections, Obi went
from class to class, interacting with the pupils/students. He told them that
the essence of the World Freedom Day is not just being free from the shackles
of slavery, trafficking and enslavement, but also being emancipated through
education and the acquisition of right values.
Quoting
Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher, to them, he said: “When Rousseau
said in his book ‘The Social Contract’, that man is free but everywhere in
chain, he meant not just slavery as you and I know it, but also the dangerous
type of slavery occasioned by ignorance, which only proper education can
overcome.”
The
high point of the visits was the donation of 2 million Naira to both schools
(One million Naira each), with assurances by Obi that he would visit them
again.
In
his remarks, Sokoto Diocese Education Secretary, Rev. Sr. Esther Upaa, said he
was humbled by Obi’s commitment to education and prayed God to bless him
abundantly.
Obi,
who recently returned from Rwanda and Kenya on similar school apostolate, has
also been visiting schools in both the northern and southern parts of the
country.
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