The president of Riverine Communities of Nigeria, Sheriff Mulade, has appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Patrick Muoboghare, to consider citing a higher institution in riverine communities of Delta State to enable them access higher education without much hassles.

In a separate letter he forwarded to Senator Okowa, the Ijaw leader also urged him to transfer the School of Marine Technology, Burutu, from the state’s Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Higher Education, to enable the institution function effectively and optimally.

Commending Senator Okowa for upgrading the College of Education, Agbor, the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro and the Delta State University, Asaba campuses to universities to ease the quest for university education, he said folks in the creeks of the state deserved similar gesture given the socio-economic hardships associated with the terrain, which he noted sustains the nation’s economy.

Mulade made the appeal in Asaba during a public hearing on the three proposed universities at the state’s House of Assembly complex.

He said Education is the right of every citizen and not a privilege adding that the lack of schools in the riverine communities, especially higher institutions, resulted in the youths engaging in retrogressive tendencies such as restiveness.

The Osun State government has sealed off 23 private schools it said were “substandard” across the state.

Some of the offences that led to closure of the schools are dirty teaching environment, unqualified teachers, non renewal of licenses and operating without a licence.

The seal off according to the state’s commissioner for education, Folorunso Oladoyin, is to perfect the efforts of the government to sanitise education sector in the state for better results.

The commissioner, in a statement, said authorities “will not relent in its efforts to give quality education to students because they are the future of the state.

He urged the school supervisors in Osun to remain in order to fish out more mushroom and substandard private schools.

Oladoyin also said in the statement that private schools who are not properly registered with the state’s Ministry of Education should do so as soon as possible.

The affected schools include Hephzibah Kiddies, Ejigbo; Najeemdeen Model Schools, Ejigbo; Favour of God secondary school, Okinni; Omolara Nursery And Primary School, Iwo, among others.

This is the second time the state government will seal off schools. Some schools were sealed in September 2020 for similar offences.

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), recently held a five day training for food handlers drawn from the Local Government Education Authority across the state.

The programme themed, ‘Quality Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle during Covid-19 Pandemic’, was aimed at strengthening their capacity to effectively carry out their duties hygienically and efficiently while ensuring that they serve the pupils food by mid-day everyday of the week.

The Executive Chairman of the board, Wahab Alawiye-King who declared the programme opened, said the theme was apt considering the present reality, adding that the application of the principles of environmental sanitation, personal hygiene and established food safety practices, cannot be over emphasised.

The Executive Chairman emphasised on the national home grown school feeding programme, a social intervention initiative of the federal government to promote social protection where pupils in primary one to three in public primary schools are given one nutritious meal per day.

He commended the federal government for its commitment towards the initiative in Lagos saying, it has continued to increase enrolment and retention rates of pupils in public books and also helped to improve their nutrition and health status.

Alawiye-King recalled that the feeding programme had commenced in the state last year, but it was abruptly halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of schools.

He said the board was in talks with the ministry of humanitarian affairs and Disaster management to ensure that all the vendors go round all the schools in the state