Andrew Ikehi
Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan yesterday, commissioned two new ultra-modern dormitories of 104 capacities each built for Saint Patrick?s College (SPC), Asaba, by the state government with a call on the management of the college to put them (the hostel facilities) into proper use.
The Governor who was represented by his deputy, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN), said that the need to provide a conducive environment that would stimulate quality teaching and learning was one of the reasons behind the state government?s commitment to the upgrading of infrastructural facilities in all schools in the state.
The governor noted that SPC, Asaba, was one of the oldest centres of educational civilization in the state which, he said, had produced prominent Nigerians in diverse fields of human endeavours, adding that the college was one of the 12 schools that the state government has decided to upgrade.
?This is why, early in the process of facilities upgrade, we decided to build an ultra-modern lecture theatre in the college (SPC) which is consistent with our vision to deliver quality education to our students?, Uduaghan said.
Continuing, the governor said ?having given the school a befitting lecture theatre, we need to invest where the students live and that is the hostel?, pointing out that it was on the basis of this desire that the state government decided to carry out a comprehensive upgrade of the hostel facilities in the college.
While expressing delight that the projects being executed in the college were going on satisfactorily, Uduaghan said ?what I am seeing today is delightful and inviting to students and teachers who really want to deliver quality education or pursue quality education?.
According to him, Delta State needs children who are intellectually equipped to be able drive the economy of the state, adding that ?we cannot do this without investing massively in education?.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare stated that the commissioning of the ultra-modern hostel facilities in the college was the second phase of the state government?s intervention programme in the college after it was handed over to the Catholic mission, noting that the first phase was the official commissioning of super structure in the college, even as he said that the third phase would be the commissioning of classroom blocks.
Muoboghare who disclosed that the upgrading of the hostel facilities in the college was a clear demonstration of government?s determination and commitment towards assisting the management of schools that were handed over to their former owners in providing quality education, even as he expressed appreciation to Governor Uduaghan for approving funds for the upgrade of facilities in schools across the state.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Administrator of the college, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Stephen Uzomah commended the state government for its sustained interest in the infrastructural development of the college, just as he appealed for the donation of a bus that would facilitate the movement of students to events outside the school premises.
The highlight of the ceremony was the commissioning of the hostel facilities by the Deputy Governor of the state, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN) on behalf of the state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
