Monarch’s wife urges stakeholders to prioritise education

Wife of the Olu of Warri, Olori Ivie Atuwatse III, has admonished education stakeholders to prioritise education because it is essential for sustainable growth and development.

The queen spoke at the graduation ceremony of

Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) Academy, Abuja. Five senior secondary school and three junior secondary pupils graduated in the 2024 session.

She said: “Nigeria’s education system is plagued with many challenges and I will liken it to an elephant; you cannot eat a whole elephant at once. The many challenges resemble the body of an elephant; the first thing that we must do as a nation is to take education seriously.

“Once you take education seriously, then we can begin to take necessary steps to ensuring that we build our education system to one that can compete globally.

“The first step we must do is to be committed to eating the elephant, be committed to education, be committed to ensuring that you are making an impact and make education a priority.”

Queen Ivie added that prioritising education would translate to addressing out-of-school children, teacher training, infrastructure and curriculum issues.

She urged the graduands to be intentional in shining their light, noting that their abilities to shine would build resilience in them and lead them to their destinies.

The Head of School, Dr Agodi Alagbe, said the academy has always striven for excellence. Alagbe affirmed that its achievements stood as a testimony to the quality of education imparted in students and unwavering commitment to staff members.

She added: “We are very child-centered; we don’t believe that any two children are the same and so we do differentiated instruction. This means you could have few kids in the same class and grade level but we really get to know the children as individuals and create learning opportunities that are specific to their needs.

“So they can grow, flourish and maximise their potential; we have given them all it will take them to succeed; we are waiting to see what they will become.”

Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, Robert Gabor, lauded the school for investing in the future of Nigerians. He urged the graduands to also invest in their abilities and communities.

Gabor also called on the graduands to learn new skills as that was the only way to contribute to the growth and development of their immediate community and country at large.