Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State says his administration will soon set up a committee to identify specific schools eligible for handover to missionary organisations across the state.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Fred Itua, Mr Okpebholo announced this when Gabriel Dunia, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, visited him on Monday in Benin.
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Mr Okpebholo said schools currently under renovation by the state government would remain under its supervision until all rehabilitation works were completed.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that some of such schools include Our Lady of Fatima College, St. Angela’s Grammar School, and St. John Grammar School.
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Earlier, the bishop, Mr Dunia, stated that previous governments allegedly failed to respond positively to multiple appeals by the church for the return of its educational institutions.
He emphasised that the schools were vital for both academic excellence and the moral upbringing needed to shape responsible, value-driven citizens in society.
Mr Okpebholo’s predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, had assured that the state government would hand over the missionary schools in Edo to their original owners, but said that his administration was not in a hurry to do that, according to a report by Daily Trust.
“We have decided to return schools to missionaries but not in a hurry to do that,” Mr Obaseki, represented by the then-Secretary to the Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie, said in 2021 in Benin during the centenary celebration of the United Baptist Church.
“This is obvious because we have to sit down and work out a scheme that will ensure reduced school fees affordable by all.”
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Daily Trust reported that the United Baptist Church Prelate, Osama Usuanlele, had appealed to the governor to return schools to their original owners.
“There is a need for the government to partner with the church to improve the infrastructure and standard of education in the state.
“Baptist church, for instance, has several schools that were forcefully taken over from us, which have become dilapidated.
“We request the state government to give us back these schools for effective management and improvements of the standard of education sector in the state.
“Kindly give us these schools and less stress and squabbles on how to manage them,” the bishop told Mr Obaseki.
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