FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo has approved the return of schools to missionary organisations.
This decision was announced after a meeting yesterday between the governor and the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Gabriel Dunia, at the Government House, Benin.
Okpebholo stated that a committee would be established to identify the specific schools that will be handed over to the missionaries.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Fred Itua, clarified that any of the affected schools currently undergoing renovation by the state government would remain under its supervision until their completion.
Among the schools expected to be affected by this policy are prominent institutions such as Our Lady of Fatima College, Auchi; St Angela’s Grammar School, Uzairue; St John Grammar School, Fugar; St Peter’s Grammar School, Agenebode; St James’s Grammar School, Afuze; St Joseph College, Otuo; St Mary Grammar School, Eme-Ora; and St Aloysius Gonzaga Grammar School, Ososo.
The move came decades after the state government forcefully took over Catholic primary and secondary schools in the 1970s.
Bishop Dunia revealed that despite persistent appeals to previous administrations, the state government had not positively responded to the church’s requests for the return of their institutions until now.
Bishop Dunia underscored the strategic importance of these educational institutions to the Catholic mission, emphasising their role not only in the intellectual formation of children, but also in fostering “ideal moral character, which constitutes the bedrock of a good society.”
