By Ismail M. Kabir
The immediate past President General of Ebira People's Association (EPA), Dr. Abdulrahman Adeiza has urged Ebira academics of impacting the people with their education.
The impactful remark was delivered on the occasion of Celebration of some Ebira sons and daughters that recently bagged Ph.D in their various academic disciplines.
The event which held at the Hilltop Paradise Hotel, Lokoja over the weekend was in Celebration of the trio of Dr. Hussein Adinoyi Etudaiye, Dr. Juliet Hassana Okibayi Mouneme and Dr. Abdulrahman Otuoze Okino were celebrated by Committee of Friends for their academic height.
Dr. Adeiza who noted that having doctoral degree that is academic and not honorary was not a mean fit urged the celebrants to impact the society, saying that "your education should not be about the amount of rice you can buy but the depth of light you can bring to our people".
See the full remark:
I am pleased to be part of this gathering. A gathering to celebrate cerebral height rather mediocrity. Having a doctoral degree that is academic and not honorary is a no mean feat. It is the height of educational degree while professorial is the height of academic honor. You should be celebrated for your tenacity of purpose and doggedness because in our present circumstance where people circumvent rigours of the classroom to take an easy way to purchase this name, you have decided to sweat to earn it. You have shown to the younger generation the honor of hard work. I congratulate you all.
Your education should not be about the amount of rice you can buy but the depth of light you can bring to our people, it should be the amount of relief you bring to our people and not the amount of grief and it should be about the intensity of love you can engender in our communities and not the vile and hatred you can spread across the land
Across our land education is fast becoming another appurtenance for illegal acquisition, illicit deals and demystification of basic virtues. Germaine issues have been jettisoned for mundane ones. The sharp end of our education has been blunted by the race to sycophancy. We have diminished our values. I ask? Who will save our race? Who will build our future? Please let your education think for you and not you thinking for your education. Thinking for your education is when you use sophistries to rationalize your apparent and inapparent misdeamenours. I am not unaware of the brilliance of the three of you and I believe strongly you will use your education to lead a new moral renaissance in our land.
For knowledge to hold sway, it must have truth as a content. Please Live hence and speak truth to shape your communities because the truth and knowledge that you proffer are the only durable legacies that will survive you. May the sharp and bright end of your education make an enduring trail for others to follow in our communities, amen.
Let patience be your weapon, let knowlege be your courage, let intellect be your driving force, let wisdon be your guide and above all let truth and the fear of God guide your conscience.
Congratulations and best wishes in your future lives, Amen.
