BY SUNDAY EGEDE
THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has inducted Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori into its hall of fame following his monumental infrastructural and human capital development spread across the state.
The induction was performed, yesterday, by the global President of NANS, Comrade Lucky Imoefe, when he led members of the National Executive Committee (NEC)of the association on a courtesy visit to the Governor at Government House, Asaba.
Comrade Imoefe, said Governor Oborevwori’s phenomenal developmental strides were visible to all which, he said, singled him out for the honour and assured of the continued support of the students’ body in advancing his administration’s MORE Agenda for Deltans.
He said the upgrade of infrastructural facilities in the state-owned tertiary institutions, renovation of 150 health centres, appointment of youths into his cabinet, training and empowerment of youths have endeared the Governor to all, even as he appealed to him not to relent in the fulfillment of his electioneering campaign promises to Deltans.
Comrade Imoefe said another award of excellence bestowed on Governor Oborevwori was in appreciation of his passionate commitment in ensuring that the education sector of the state economy received its pride of place in the scheme of things.
On regular monitoring of projects, the student leader appealed to the Governor to sustain the tempo of inspection so that Deltans will get value for money spent on projects.
“We bring to you greetings of solidarity from the national headquarters of the National Association of Nigerian Students.
“We are very happy to be in Delta State Government House today. NANS is the umbrella body of all Nigerian Students and we are happy that in your time, a Deltan emerged as the national and global president of NANS. “Since you emerged as the Governor of Delta State, good things have continued to happen. We now have a Deltan as NANS president and we have also heard about the activities of Julius Berger in Delta State. “We are aware of your good deeds in the education sector and all the other sectors of this state. On that note, the leadership of NANS have resolved to induct you into the Hall of Fame of NANS.
“We are aware of the numerous projects you are doing in the state and how you take out time to monitor them. The leadership of NANS has mandated me to tell you thank you. “We also thank you for your continuous payment of busery to students of Delta State origin. On record we are aware that you have approved two payments of bursary in one year,” he added.
Responding, Governor Oborevwori, who thanked the students’ body for the honour done him, said the vision of his administration was to ensure that residents of the state had affordable and quality education at all levels, even as he pledged to continue to implement policies and programmes that will impact positively on the lives of the people.
While congratulating the NANS President for making Deltans proud, he said the inclusion of youths in his cabinet was to give them a platform to showcase their talent, pointing out that they were all doing well. ln the area of bursary, the Governor said over 30,000 students of the state origin were receiving bursary, stressing that a lot was being done to fast track all round development.
While reeling out the numerous people oriented programmes of his administration, he sued for the sustained support of all in taking the state to a higher level of sustainable development.
“It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to Government House. Your election as NANS president is a great encouragement to the student body. “I have listened to you carefully and I thank you for your commendations. When I came in, I just felt that we needed to bring in young ones. We did that so that they can be mentored by the older ones and today, they are doing very well.
“I believe in education; it is the source of one’s life. What you can give to your people is education. When you do that, you have given them a platform to stand. And that is exactly what we are doing. You can see that today; we are the only state with four universities.
“On the issues of the bursary, since I came in, we have paid not less than 30,000 students. So, the issue of increasing the bursary we will look into it.
“We have also not increased school fees like some states have done. I tried to even reduce admission fees to enable our students to gain admission into the university. “We shall continue to support our students to make it easier for them to succeed with their education,” Governor Oborevwori said.
