The former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, celebrated World Freedom Day with pupils and students of Holy Family Secondary School, Sokoto and St. Patrick’s School, Illela, the border town between Sokoto and Niger Republic.
Obi said that his urge to celebrate the day in remote part of Sokoto State was a way of assuring the children of Nigeria wherever they are that somebody cared for them and was always available to encourage them to always take their education seriously as the most important currency for competition in the world.
While in both schools, which have nursery, primary and secondary sections, Obi went from class to class, interacting with pupils/students. He told them that the essence of the World Freedom Day was not just being free from shackles of slavery, trafficking enslavement, but also being emancipated through education and acquisition of right values.
Quoting Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher to them, he said: “When Rousseau said in his book, ‘The Social Contract’, that man is free, but everywhere in chain, he meant not just slavery as you and I know, but also the dangerous type of slavery occasioned by ignorance, which proper education only can overcome.”
The high point of the visits was the donation of N2 million to both schools (One million Naira each), with assurances by Obi that he would visit them again.
Obi who recently returned from Rwanda and Kenya on similar school apostolate, has also been visiting schools in the Northern part of the country.
Sokoto Diocese Education Secretary, Rev. Sr. Esther Upaa, said that he was humbled by Obi’s commitment to education and prayed to God to bless him abundantly.