The Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has approved the return of eight schools to Missionary organisations in the State.
Governor Okpebholo stated this on Monday during a meeting with Gabriel Dunia, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi at Government House in Benin City.
He listed the affected schools, which are all located in the Edo North Senatorial District, are Our Lady of Fatima College, Auchi, St. Angela’s Grammar School, Uzairue, St. John Grammar School, Fugar and St. Peter’s Grammar School, Agenebode.
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Others are St. James’s Grammar School, Afuze, St. Joseph College, Otuo, St. Mary Grammar School, Eme-Ora, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga Grammar School, Ososo.
The affected schools are also in Akoko-Edo, Etsako West, Etsako Central, Etsako East, Owan East and Owan West Local Government Areas, respectively.
Okpebholo said a Committee would be established to identify the specific schools that would be handed over to the missionaries.
He said that any of the affected schools currently undergoing renovation by the State Government would remain under its supervision until their completion.
Earlier, Dunia noted that despite persistent appeals to previous administrations, the State Government had not positively responded to the Church’s requests for the return of their institutions until now.
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Dunia posited that the governor’s approval came decades after the civilian Government forcefully took over Catholic primary and secondary schools in the 1970s.
Dunia, who underscored the strategic importance of educational institutions to the Catholic mission, noted that their role is not only in the intellectual formation of children but also in fostering ideal moral character, which constitutes the bedrock of a good society.
It will be recalled that secondary schools such as Immaculate Conception College, ICC, Eghosa Grammar School, and Baptist High School, all in Benin City, were among other schools returned to missionary organisations by Lucky Igbinedion’s Administration.
