Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia on Friday returned 19 secondary schools to their original owners, 42 years after they were acquired by the defunct East Central State Government.
Orji handed over the certificates of the schools to the heads of the different churches and proprietors at a ceremony in Umuahia.
He expressed regrets that government could no longer provide subventions to the schools “due to paucity of funds’’ and described the handover as historic.
He explained that the state was currently facing financial difficulties and promised that subventions would be made available to the schools as soon as government’s financial situation improved.
He further promised that the handover of the primary schools to the missions would also be performed in no distant time.
Orji said that the decision to return the schools was borne out of the need to restore discipline, morals and standard in the system.
The governor noted that schools were in the past, “the epitome of excellence, discipline and morality’’ that churned out quality and sound products.
According to him, morality and standard have fallen, while indiscipline has become the order of the day’ with the takeover of schools at the end of the civil war.
He expressed confidence that the handover would help to restore discipline and also eliminate “unwholesome activities’’ that affected smooth teaching and learning.
The governor explained that a law repealing the edict that authorised the take over and legalised teir return to the original owners was passed by the House of Assembly in 2011.
Orji charged the beneficiaries of the schools to comply with the conditions attached to the handover.
The state Commissioner for Education, Dr Monica Philip, expressed joy at the development, saying: “the handover has brought to an end agitation by owners for the schools to be returned to them’’.
The Chairman of the occasion, Sen. Ike Nwachukwu, noted that academic calendar was stable while the standard of education was high before the schools were taken over.
Nwachukwu called for collaboration among stakeholders in the efforts to stem the slide in the standard of education in the country.
Bishop Lucius Ugorji, who was the head of voluntary agencies and private owners of schools in the state, commended the governor ''for doing what other governors could not do''.
Ugorji appealed to the governor to ensure the completion of the handover with the return of primary schools and assured him that they would ensure that standard and discipline were restored in the schools.
He urged the government to ensure the reconstruction and rehabilitation of schools, after fulfilling the “’reconciliation’’ aspect by the official handover.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Eze John Akaniro, the Chairman of the state Council of Traditional Rulers, thanked the governor for the gesture.
Akaniro expressed the hope that the development would help to restore the lost glory of education and ensure quality and standard. ?