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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia State Government is partnering Government College, Umuahia to revolutionise education in the state to meet the dictates of the 21st Century and align with global competitiveness.
The state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Goodluck Ubochi, made this known while presenting an address during the Government College Umuahia (GCU) Education Innovation Conference 2026, organised by the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA), UK and Europe chapters.
Ubochi noted that for too long, education in Abia has operated in silos, as academics were divorced from life skills and theory outweighed practice.
He said as a result of this, schools in the state produced graduates strong in memorisation but often vulnerable to the demands of a dynamic world.
The Commissioner regretted that education in the state, in the past, suffered underfunding and infrastructural decay, adding that it was for this reason Governor Alex Otti declared a state of emergency in education to bridge the gap.
Disclosing what the state government is doing to improve the quality of education in the state, Ubochi said 5,394 teachers have been employed, with plans to employ an additional 4,000 that will bring the number to nearly 10,000.
“To our partners, the Old Boys Association of Government College Umuahia, your foresight in championing this event is commendable.
“We are moving from an era of neglect to an era of intentional, data-driven and holistic investment in education.”
Deputy Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Augustine Mmeregini, commended the organisers for coming up with a conference that blends classroom theory with practical work.
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An Old Boy himself, Mmeregini said the partnership between Abia Government and the school to take education to a global level was a decision in the right direction.
Mr Chukwudi Onwudinanti, an Old Boy of the school who coordinated the online version of the conference from the United Kingdom, highlighted the need to shift education from basically theory to practicals.
Onwudinanti, enumerating the aims of the conference, in summary, said it was meant to give education a global foothold and make products of schools have a high employability rate.
He lauded the Abia State Government for partnering GCUOBA for the benefit of the students, whom he said will definitely come out better.
A former Rector of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic (formerly Abia State Polytechnic), Aba, Elder Allwell Onukogu, told the participants that education should not be divorced from sports.
“Sports is useful and not useless as it used to be said. Those [who] believe that sports is useless are people of the old testament.”
While urging the state Ministry of Education to checkmate the activities of some private schools in the state, Onukogu commended the organisers of the conference, reminding them that some of the best brains in the country, including the late Professor Chinua Achebe, passed through the school.
Other speakers at the conference such as Victor Igwe, Onuoha Enyinnaya, Ekeke Ochiabuto, and those who spoke online from the UK, including Ms Rachel Caine, Timothy Fisher, Greg Thurstans and Matthew Rose, all harped on the need to revolutionise education in Abia State in particular and Nigeria in general to be in tandem with what obtains globally.
About 10 schools participated in the one-day conference, while prizes were given to some of the students after the conference.
