By Valentine Amanze
The globally-acclaimed Foundation created and promoted by Pope Francis, the Scholas Ocurrentes Foundation, is set to come to Nigeria.
The Foundation, which focuses on transforming the youth through education and sports, and which was initiated by Pope Francis as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Bueno Aires, Argentina, is today working all over the world.
The Holy Father believes that to make the world better, peaceful, and reduce inequality, “we must invest in education and sports development for the youth.”
In recognition of his passion for and commitment to education and youth development, Mr Peter Obi, the Anambra State former governor, was invited by the Leadership of this Foundation to its annual meeting, which held on Friday, December 13, 2019 at the Vatican, to meet with the Pope, the Chairman of the Foundation (Jose Maria del Corall), and other directors to enable him witness what the Foundation is doing in various parts of the world, with the intention of working with him to bring the Foundation to Nigeria.
Also on the entourage were five first ladies from Latin America countries, namely: the First Lady of Belize, Kim Simplis Barrow; the First Lady of Columbia, Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval; the First Lady of Paraguay, Silvana Lopez Moreira; the First Lady of Argentina, Juliana Awada; and that of Brazil, Michelle de Paula Firmo Reinaldo Bolsinaro. They came with youths from their countries who are already benefiting from the work of the Foundation. Also in attendance were renowned artistes, writers, and sports men and women.
On his return to Nigeria, Mr Peter Obi said that the Holy Father and the Leadership of the Foundation were very interested in supporting education and sports in Nigeria.
He said that there would be further meetings with managers of the Foundation to conclude modelities for the operation of the Foundation in Nigeria.
Obi reiterated that the greatest asset of any nation was its people, and that the most important key for unlocking this asset is education. He emphasized that Nigeria must aggressively invest in the education of its youths as to have a better future: “Our underdevelopment and the various problems we are going through today are the cumulative effect of poor leadership that did not adequately invest in education yesterday”, he said.
It will be recalled that in 2000/2001, schools were closed down in Anambra State, which led to the state being at the bottom in external examinations. However, with Obi policies which saw education given the highest priority, the state regained and in 2011, 2012 and 2013 was the number one in external examinations. When JAMB and other examination bodies embraced computer examinations, Anambra had the most computer-compliant students.