Government, wealthy individuals, corporations and the diaspora must work hand in hand
By Hon. Chimazuru Nnadi-Oforgu
An Oblong Media Commentary
I have been thinking seriously about the condition of public education in Imo State, and I believe the time has come for us to try something different.
Not another government programme.
Not another appeal to billionaires to come and do government’s job.
And certainly not another committee that will produce beautiful speeches and disappear.
What I am proposing is a partnership.
Bring the Imo State Government, wealthy Imo individuals and families, corporate organisations, banks, industrialists, alumni associations, town unions and our enormous diaspora community around one table and give them one assignment:
Let us rebuild Imo’s public schools together.
Government cannot abdicate its responsibility. Education remains fundamentally a public responsibility.
But government does not have to work alone.
Neither should a businessman who wants to rebuild his old school have to carry the entire burden himself.
We have resources scattered everywhere.
Government has public funds, institutional authority and manpower.
Our wealthy individuals have capital.
Corporations have money, technology, management expertise and CSR budgets.
Our diaspora has capital, professional expertise and international networks.
Our communities and alumni have local knowledge, ownership and the ability to monitor what happens on the ground.
Bring all five together and suddenly what appears impossible becomes achievable.
LET US START WITH 30 SCHOOLS
Ten from Owerri Zone.
Ten from Orlu Zone.
Ten from Okigwe Zone.
And because charity begins at home, I put Ihiagwa Secondary School at No. 1.
Not because this is a ranking of Imo schools. It isn’t.
I am putting Ihiagwa first because I am from Ihiagwa, and if I am asking other Imo people to take responsibility for their communities, I must begin with mine.
OWERRI ZONE
- Ihiagwa Secondary School, Ihiagwa
- Nekede Boys Secondary School
- Government Secondary School, Owerri
- Owerri Girls Secondary School
- Emmanuel College, Owerri
- Government Technical College, Owerri
- Egbu Girls Secondary School
- Holy Ghost College
- Emekuku Comprehensive Secondary School
- Mbieri Community Secondary School
ORLU ZONE
- Eziachi Secondary School
- Comprehensive Secondary School, Amaifeke
- Girls Secondary School, Orlu
- Bishop shannahan college Orlu
- Akatta Secondary School
- Mgbidi Boys Secondary School
- Comprehensive Secondary School, Ozara
- Secondary Commercial School, Osina
- Dick Tiger Memorial Secondary School, Amaigbo
- Community Secondary School, Awo-Idemili
OKIGWE ZONE
- Community Secondary School, Okigwe
- Girls Secondary School, Okigwe
- Okohia Secondary School
- St. Aquinas Secondary School, Umunachi
- Agbaja Secondary Technical School
- National Secondary School Ummuna
- Ehunachi Comprehensive Secondary School
- Achara Secondary Commercial School
- Uboma Secondary School, Ikperejere
- Umuduru-Egbeaguru Community Secondary School
These thirty are only the beginning.
HOW WOULD IT WORK?
Take Ihiagwa Secondary School as an example.
First, conduct a proper audit.
What is the state of its infrastructure, security and general landscape?
What is the condition of the classrooms?
Where are the science laboratories?
What condition is the library in?
How many computers are available?
Is there reliable electricity?
Water?
Internet?
Toilets?
Technical workshops?
Sporting facilities?
How many teachers are required?
Then produce a proper cost.
Suppose transforming Ihiagwa Secondary School into a genuine model public school requires ₦2 billion.
Government might provide ₦500 million and undertake responsibility for teachers and recurrent expenditure.
An Ihiagwa born businessman or family could provide ₦200 million.
A bank or major corporation could provide ₦200 million for an ICT centre, laboratories or solar infrastructure.
Ihiagwa people in Britain, America, Canada, Europe and elsewhere could collectively raise another ₦500m -1 billion.
Alumni, town unions and other friends of the community could raise the balance.
Suddenly, nobody is being asked to carry ₦2 billion alone.
Everybody carries something. Everybody owns the result.
That model can be repeated throughout Imo.
And it need not always be about cash.
A technology company can equip an ICT centre.
A construction company can rehabilitate classroom blocks.
A solar company can provide electricity.
A telecommunications company can provide broadband.
A bank can build and endow a library.
Medical professionals can establish a school clinic.
Engineers in the diaspora can provide designs and project supervision.
Teachers and academics abroad can establish exchange and mentoring programmes.
Our wealthy individuals can create permanent endowments.
Government coordinates the entire system, provides counterpart funding and ensures that the schools have qualified teachers and sustainable recurrent funding.
This is the partnership I am talking about.
LET OUR BILLIONAIRES AND CORPORATIONS COMPETE OVER SCHOOLS
We have already demonstrated that Imo people can mobilise enormous private capital.
We build extraordinary homes.
We establish businesses across Nigeria.
We spend heavily on weddings and funerals.
We fund political campaigns.
Our people donate enormous sums to churches and community projects.
Imagine directing even a fraction of that financial power towards education.
Imagine the healthy competition.
An industrialist from Orlu transforms his old secondary school.
A banker from Mbaise responds by rebuilding another.
A businessman from Mbano equips laboratories across three schools.
A corporation adopts a technical college.
An Imo diaspora association in America takes responsibility for ICT facilities in five schools.
An association in Britain provides libraries.
Another in Europe provides science equipment.
Government matches their contributions.
That is how we should be competing.
AND THE DIASPORA MUST BE CENTRAL TO THIS.
Imo has an extraordinary diaspora.
Thousands of our people work in medicine, engineering, finance, technology, academia and business around the world.
Their contribution should not simply be sending money home for family responsibilities and December festivities.
We need to create credible structures through which an Imo association in London, Houston, New York or Toronto can say:
“We are adopting the science laboratories of this school.”
And twelve months later, members should be able to see exactly what their money accomplished.
That requires transparency.
Every participating school should have a published intervention plan.
Every contribution should be accounted for.
Every contract should be visible.
Every project should be independently audited.
Before and after photographs should be published.
Communities and alumni should monitor projects locally.
Nobody should be handing billions into some opaque government account.
GOVERNMENT MUST LEAD, WITHOUT DOMINATING.
The Imo State Government should convene an Imo Education Investment and Endowment Summit.
Put our major public schools on the table.
Put their problems on the table.
Put the cost of fixing them on the table.
Then bring in our wealthiest sons and daughters, corporations, banks, foundations, alumni associations and diaspora organisations.
Government can then say:
For every credible ₦2 billion school rehabilitation programme, we are prepared to provide an agreed percentage as counterpart funding.
Now we are talking business.
Now a businessman knows government has skin in the game.
The diaspora knows its money is being matched.
Corporations can see exactly where their CSR expenditure is going.
Communities have ownership.
And government remains accountable for the public education system.
WHY IHIAGWA FIRST?
Ihiagwa hosts the Federal University of Technology Owerri.
There is something fundamentally wrong if a community synonymous with a major federal university cannot also boast of an outstanding public secondary school.
I want to see Ihiagwa Secondary School become a genuine 21st century public school.
Modern laboratories.
A serious library.
ICT.
Internet.
Solar power.
Technical workshops.
Modern classrooms.
Water.
Sanitation.
Sports.
Security.
And excellent teachers.
If Ihiagwa succeeds, Nekede should challenge us.
Mbaise should challenge Nekede.
Orlu should challenge Mbaise.
Mbano should challenge Orlu.
Obowo should challenge Mbano.
Let communities begin competing over educational excellence.
THIS IS ABOUT LEGACY.
There comes a point when another luxury car, another mansion or another chieftaincy title adds very little to a successful person’s life.
Legacy becomes more important.
A car eventually becomes scrap.
A mansion eventually belongs to somebody else.
But imagine putting your resources together with government, corporations and your community to rebuild a school that educates children for another fifty years.
Imagine an endowment carrying your family name paying for laboratories and scholarships long after you are gone.
That is a different kind of wealth.
So my proposition is simple.
Government brings public resources and institutional responsibility.
Our wealthy sons and daughters bring private capital and endowments.
Corporations bring CSR funding, technology and expertise.
The diaspora brings money, knowledge and international networks.
Alumni and communities bring ownership and oversight.
Nobody replaces anybody.
Everybody works together.
Start with thirty schools.
Fix them properly.
Show Imo people what has been achieved.
Then take another thirty.
And another thirty.
Until every public secondary school in Imo State feels the impact.
Imo does not lack money.
We do not lack successful people.
We certainly do not lack brains.
What we have lacked is the mechanism to bring government, private wealth, corporate capital, the diaspora and our communities together around one measurable objective.
Let education be that objective.
And once again, I put my community on the table first:
WHO WILL JOIN HANDS WITH GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE IMO AND THE IHIAGWA DIASPORA TO TRANSFORM IHIAGWA SECONDARY SCHOOL?
Let that question be asked in every community in Imo State.
That is how we begin.
Hon. Chimazuru Nnadi-Oforgu
Duruebube Uzii na Abosi
Oblong Media Global Intelligence
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