The Rector and Principal of St Joseph’s Seminary Special Science School, Awka-Etiti, Anambra State, Rev Fr Anthony C. Okoye, has praised the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Mr Peter Obi, for reviving and transforming the school that was hugely dilapidated for years.
Speaking during the Feast Day Celebration of the school, Fr Okoye narrated how, when he was appointed the school principal in 2012, he met a school so dilapidated, almost abandoned and run over by bushes and animals. He recalled that he only met about 30 students in the school, who only came around to help the teachers in their school farms and never engaged in any serious academic work.
On the re-building of the school, he said: “Mr Peter Obi came here to visit us for at least three times. After his first visit, he took pictures of our then pitiable environment and promised to change our story. Firstly, we received N20 million from him. With the money, we built our first hostel and began to revive the school.”
“Obi did not stop there. We later got another N10 million and later he still gave us another N10 million, making it a total of N40 million received from his administration, in cash.
“He went ahead to donate a school bus and 30KVA generator to us. Every other year, he gave us N1,250,000 for library development and N600,000 for sporting equipment,” Okoye narrated.
The Principal further said: “For the first time in my life, I met a man who said that every school will receive support to the neighborhood of N50 million and it happened so. I know Obi will be proud of our journey so far and the kind of transformation we, as a school, have undergone.”
Addressing journalists, Obi, who was represented by a former Commissioner for Housing, Anambra State, Engr Patrick Nky Obi, reassured of his support for education, which he maintained, remains a critical contributor to national development. Obi encouraged the students to remain receptive to the educational and moral formation they receive from the school, for their own benefits.
Earlier in his homily during the Holy Mass, the Proprietor of the School and Archbishop of Onitsha Archdiocese, His Grace Valerian Okeke, urged the students to remain obedient to their teachers and formators. Archbishop Okeke encouraged them to always ask for the intercession of St Joseph, their Patron Saint, in times of need.