The immediate past Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, has tackled the Abia State Government for criticising a foreign scholarship programme he initiated in the state when he was the governor.
Mr Ikpeazu served as governor of the South-eastern state from 2015 to 2023, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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The Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties and Funds recently questioned Mr Ikpeazu’s administration’s sponsorship of foreign scholarships in the state.
Florence Duruoha-Igwe, a retired justice, chairs the panel.
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Ms Duruoha-Igwe reportedly faulted Mr Ikpeazu’s alleged decision to sponsor students to study law in India.
The retired justice argued that the sponsorship was improper, considering Nigeria’s legal system differs significantly from India’s.
She said the panel found no evidence of proper documentation for the scholarship schemes, which also included programmes in Australia, adding that the absence of a constituted scholarship board to oversee the initiative further attracted the panel’s scrutiny.
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Ikpeazu reacts
But reacting through a statement on Monday by his former Commissioner of Information in Abia State, John Okiyi Kalu, Mr Ikpeazu said his administration sponsored two Abia students, among 25 youths approved, to India to study international Law with a bias in human rights and international business litigations.
The former governor said others were sponsored to study engineering, pharmacy, public health, etc., in India, while at least 60 others traveled to Australia, England, and Canada to study engineering, ICT, renewable energy, global project management, computer science, and environmental management, among other subjects.
He said that, contrary to the panel’s position, a duly constituted Scholarship Board was in Abia State, led by an elder statesman, Ambassador Empire Kanu.
“Before the Empire Kanu board, Governor Ikpeazu himself inaugurated a scholarship board led by Prof. Samuel Igwe in May of year 2017,” the statement said.
Mr Ikpeazu said his administration paid for the flights, feeding, accommodation, and fees of all Abians studying in India up to December 2023.
“For the avoidance of doubt, in the 34-year history of Abia State, the Ikpeazu administration is the first and only to send Abia State youths out of the country on foreign scholarships.
“The same administration also took 30 Aba shoemakers to learn automated shoe making in China and upon their return established the first ever Enyimba Automated Shoe Company in Aba with the same equipment they trained with,” the statement stated.
Mr Ikpeazu stressed that his administration also took Aba tailors to Turkey to understudy their automated system. Upon their return, he established the Enyimba Automated Garment Factory in Aba with the same equipment they had been trained in Turkey.
The former governor added that he established the Education for Employment Scheme to train Abia residents and fill the gaps in mid-level relevant skills necessary to drive industrialisation.
“The state government is not expected to pay additional money for the scholarship of those children in Australia because the Ikpeazu administration already paid and also made arrangements for them to work and pay any other money to sustain themselves.
“Yet out of needless bitterness, Dr Alex Otti wrote the Australian authorities to send those Abia children back home whereas his own children are possibly studying abroad.
“As we speak, the beauty of the arrangement is that those scholarship students have all been weaned from dependence on state funds, as proper arrangements were made for work and school schemes by the chairman of the scholarship board,” the statement added.
Mr Ikpeazu said that under his watch as governor, no NELFUND was available to Abia students, which prompted the state to innovate to ensure that the next generation would be better.
‘Ikpeazu wanted the best for Abia children’
The former governor said he personally traveled to institutions in Australia to negotiate fees and flexible working hours for Abia students under the scholarship scheme.
“Under Governor Ikpeazu, recall that he was almost stranded in Australia during COVID-19 early days as he barely made it back to Nigeria a day before the airspace was closed as a first measure to contain the rampaging virus.
“All those sacrifices were because he wanted the best for Abia children, regardless of who their parents are, as against media propaganda,” the statement said.
The statement added: “Specifically, in the matter of the two international law students that traveled to India, my personal recollection is that when the Scholarship Board led by respected Ambassador Empire Kanu presented their vetted list of awardees to him, Dr Ikpeazu initially objected to the inclusion of Law students and offered to give them scholarship at Abia State University Uturu, which at the time was ranked among the best in legal education in Nigeria.
“But he was persuaded by the argument that education is a universal phenomenon that thrives on peer review and the cross-fertilisation of ideas. Innovation is honed by the internationalisation of teaching and learning. Moreover, the board made it clear that even when they return to the country the Nigerian Law School is there to Nigerianise their learning and knowledge.
“What Governor Alex Otti and Justice Duruoha, who possibly have their children studying abroad, might not know is that the Chinese government also send their children in large numbers to far away England, India, USA, etc. to study law and other courses for a good reason.
“Modern educational excellence includes internationalisation of the experience, leading to comparison with local curriculum and necessary improvements. There is hardly any competitive edge for local champions in a globalised world.”
The governor further revealed that, at the time, he invited Australian and Indian school teachers to train Abia school teachers and subsequently help establish Abia State Teachers Continuing Education Institute in Umuahia.
“Contrast with Governor Alex Otti, who has so far collected more than N10 billion from the Abia State Government purse for ‘capacity building’ with zero result to show for it. That money may have entered signature tune voicemail like others.
“Yet, he claims that his administration has no budget for youth employment, foreign scholarships and went ahead to sack more than 15,000 young Abians employed by the Ikpeazu administration at a time when the bad economy is pummeling our people to death.
“Rather than preserve and improve what his predecessor did for the good of the people, Governor Otti allowed the shoe and garment factories in Aba to rot away for two years, with possible loss of thousands of jobs and revenue, and then wrote Australian authorities, through Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to withdraw Abia Scholarship Students and send them back home to suffer too,” the statement further read.
Mr Ikpeazu said, contrary to Mr Otti’s claim during a recent Arise TV interview that he is not probing his predecessor, he established the Justice Duruoha-Igwe-led panel to probe him (Ikpeazu).
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