The Senator representing Bayelsa West, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has given educational grants to six hundred students from the Senatorial district.
The Senator said on Tuesday in Abuja that he decided to give the education support funds to the beneficiaries in pursuit of his passion for educational development in society.
Dickson said he had always listed education as a priority sector because of his awareness of the inseparable link between education and development in the society.
He also recalled that as Bayelsa State governor for eight years, he embarked on deliberate steps to turn around the pitiable state of education in the state by declaring an emergency in the sector to lay the foundation for bold measures in the sector.
According to him, such measures include the establishment of universities, and polytechnics, initiation of good policies, the education trust funds, and tertiary education loan board, among others.
The senator explained that the steps resulted in the changing of the story of the state from the least in the education index to among the top three in the country.
He said, “All of you know what I did in education; I initiated a lot of educational policies, the Education Trust Fund, the education loans board that is still continuing, uncountable scholarships even in the recession. I did that because I understand the importance of education and the direct link of investment in education to the development of any nation, its security and stability and indeed the future.
“Just like what I did for the law students last year, I will be unveiling a scholarship program later this year, that will be merit-based and merit/driven. Just as I keep telling everybody, for every form of development the building of roads, bridges, and house however beautiful, however expensive they are, they will deteriorate “ if we do not first build the human mind.
“The only investment that has trans generational impact, where you invest in one person and the impact will be counting on generations (that goes to the future) is education. That is why I keep investing in education, because it does not require repair and renovation and I keep identifying it, in my own modest way up till now and that is what I did as a governor.
