As part of the Community Development Services, CDS Corp members in Ogume organized a seminar with the theme: Changing the Narrative in Ogume land through education. The event which held on Friday, September 27, 2024 at Ogume Town Hall was packaged by Corpers Hillary Nnaemeka Dimarua and Veronica Ihotu Onoja as a way of stamping their names in Ogume community.
The Keynote Speaker, Prof Emmanuel Achuenu thanked the organizers for their initiative, stressing that it was a laudable project which must be supported by anyone that was ready to help change the narrative of Ogume land through education.
Pst Esonye Dorothy, Principal, Ndemili Grammar School a Guest Speaker delivered emotions ladened lecture. She said the hour of the needed change in our education curriculum has come. “In teaching, if it means using both English and Ukwuani languages to impact there is no problem with that.” She expressed sadness over students getting 9As in their WAEC and NECO yet cannot defend such brilliant results anywhere. “It is appallingly disgracing. This exposes the fact that the school hired mercenaries to commit the examination fraud”.
To Rev Fr Hillary Okoye, Parish Priest, St Andrews Catholic Church, Ogume another Guest Speaker, the destiny of the students are in their hands. He said the foundation laid by the students in their primary and secondary education determine their future career. He admonished the students to shun all manners of derision and take successful people in Ogume as their role models. “There is no shot cut to success. This get-rich syndrome should not preoccupy your minds”. He also urged them to refrain from indecent dressing, noting that they are addressed the same way they dress.
Crowning it roundly, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Abbi division CSP Florence Echinkwu charged the students to pursue a successful career instead of chasing shadows and mundane things. “Failure is an orphan whereas success has many relatives. I couldn’t have been a successful police officer if I didn’t take my career seriously”, she said.
The occasion which was chaired by Comrade Innocent Uzorga was well attended by the student community, CDC of the various quarters of Ogume, Principals of all the secondary schools in Ogume, HRE Sunday Valentine Akpati, trade unions many sons and daughters of Ogume.
The high point of the ceremony were donations, drama presentation, quiz competition, cultural display etc.
