It was a great pleasure for us to host the maiden NGEducators International Model United Nations, NGIMUN, conference, an initiative of the International Human Rights Commission, IHRC, which drew participants from 14 nations as well as several UN bodies.

It was particularly delightful for the Director General Global of the IHRC, International Relief Fund in Special Consultative Status with the UN, Dr. Tivlumun Ahure, to tip Enugu to become one of the UN headquarters.

He also spoke so highly of our efforts in the education space and recommended it to other Nigerian subnational governments and the global community as a veritable framework to eradicate poverty, contain insecurity, and improve living standard.

This, he said, was predicated on the innovative approaches and huge investments by our administration to leapfrog education in the state, stressing that Enugu was consciously chosen to host the maiden conference because of its pioneering and leading role in educational development.

In my remarks, I expressed how elated I was by the international recognitions accorded our administration and the state. From the start, we were intentional in taking a radical approach to education development, including dedicating 33 per cent of our state’s 2024 budget to education, as it remains the strongest weapon to fight poverty.

We had no idea that our modest efforts in the field of education were already receiving such recognition and praise on a global scale. We are honoured by the generous statements made by the diplomats, the UN-affiliated bodies, and those who are focusing on education in developing countries.

As we have always said, we are obsessed with education. We know that education is the surest weapon and the strongest way to fight poverty. If we are going to give a fatal blow to poverty, we must give our young people the right skill set to deal with tomorrow’s workplace. And that’s the main objective of the Green Smart School initiative.

But we are not just advocating for zero tolerance for our out-of-school children, we are also saying that these children deserve to have access to high-quality education. We are ensuring that they are exposed to future skills, to artificial intelligence, robotics, augmented reality, and mechatronics, to be able to compete favourably with their peers across the globe.

Tomorrow Is Here!