It was a gathering of the Academia at the Lady Daima Events Centre, Ekeki-Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, venue of the 3rd edition of the Ambassador Lawson Ayakoroma Educational Foundation (LAEF).
The theme of this year’s anniversary was “Celebrating Excellence and Empowering the Next Generation.”
Speaking as the Guest Speaker, the Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund (EDTF), Professor Ebimiowei Etebu, said it was erroneous to view empowerment only from monetary terms.
Professor Etebu noted that this perception was responsible for the failure of some well-intended empowerment programmes, stressing that true and lasting empowerment was about skill sets, tools and opportunities for self-development.
He pointed out that this was the dream of the Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency Senator Douye Diri, when he conceived the idea of establishing technical colleges in all the eight Local Government Areas of the state.
The EDTF Executive Secretary informed that the Trust Fund, which has been intervening in critical areas in the education sector, has been feeding over 2,000 students daily and that EDTF is prepared to take on other responsibilities within its mandate, including the new technical colleges.
Professor Etebu further decried the situation where some youths sell off kits provided for them after training programmes hoping to still benefit in subsequent opportunities thereby creating an entitlement mentality.
He also urged beneficiaries to be patient learners, saying that strategic mentorship, opportunities for leadership, and resource availability are ways of empowering the Next Generation.
The EDTF Executive Secretary recommended collaboration between government and NGOs and selection of empowerment programmes based on a needs assessment of their strengths and weakness, as possible ways of equipping a result-oriented youth.
Speaking earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Niger Delta University Amassoma, Professor Allen Agi, who was the chairman on the occasion, commended the Lawson Ayakoroma Educational Foundation for supporting students financially and called for more support specifically in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the state.
In separate goodwill messages, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Africa Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State, Professor Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma; the Director, Institute for Peace Studies, Niger Delta University, Professor Philips Okolo; and the Executive Secretary, Bayelsa State Students Loan Board, Dr. Michael Amaegberi, lauded the philanthropic gesture of Chief Ayakoroma and called for more Bayelsans to join in the good works, which should include postgraduate programmes, as well as endowment of professorial chairs.
On his part, the Founder/Chairman of the Lawson Ayakoroma Educational Foundation (LAEF), Chief Lawson Esaimu Ayakoroma, said the desire to have an educationally vibrant youth population is a philanthropic gesture.
Chief Ayakoroma said the era of armed struggle for the Niger Delta region and the Ijaw ethnic nationality to be heard was over, stating that knowledge struggle is a new approach and only through education will the war be won.
Over 150 undergraduates from the state have benefited from the Lawson Ayakoroma Educational Foundation bursary scheme in the last three years; this is just as some of the beneficiaries present at the event appreciated the exemplary philanthropic initiative of the Foundation and prayed God to bless their benefactor.
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