Managing Director/CEO, Engineering Automation Technology Limited (EATECH), Dr Emmanuel Okon, has called for collaboration between ex-students, missions and the Akwa Ibom State government in the resuscitation of decayed infrastructure in secondary schools in the state.
Okon, who lamented the rot in critical infrastructure in the state’s foremost science secondary school, St. Mary’s Science College, Abak, said the failure by private and public sectors to partner to commit huge funds into science and technology education at primary and post-primary levels amounted to a deliberate decision to kill the state’s future given the role ICT plays in the growth and prosperity of the the contemporary society.
Okon, who was chairman of the fundraising event for the renovation of the science college, held in Uyo, yesterday, said along with his wife, an alumni of the school, he would fund the renovation and equipment of one of the abandoned school’s science laboratories to international standard.
“This school founded in 1953 has produced the best of science, technology and medical professionals achieving feats within the country and globally, particularly, in the last 33 years, and we must assist in restoring it to its lost glory,” Okon said.
Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Aniekan Bassey and Commissioner for Information, Mr. Ini Ememobong, both alumni of the school, pledged to partner the newly inaugurated old students association to renovate the school.