Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has given the green light for the return of schools to missionary organisations, reversing a policy that dates back to the 1970s.
The development was confirmed after a meeting between the governor and Bishop Gabriel G. Dunia of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi on Monday at the Government House in Benin City.
In a statement released by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Fred Itua, Okpebholo noted that a committee would be constituted to determine which schools would be handed over.
He added that schools currently undergoing government-led renovations would remain under state management until those projects are completed.
Schools likely to be affected by the handover include several long-standing Catholic institutions such as Our Lady of Fatima College, Auchi; St. Angela’s Grammar School, Uzairue; St. John Grammar School, Fugar; St. Peter’s Grammar School, Agenebode; St. James’s Grammar School, Afuze; St. Joseph College, Otuo; St. Mary Grammar School, Eme-Ora; and St. Aloysius Gonzaga Grammar School, Ososo.
These institutions were among those taken over by the civil government in the 1970s during a national wave of educational reform.
Bishop Dunia, speaking on the significance of the decision, said the Church had made repeated appeals to past governments without success until Governor Okpebholo’s administration.
He stressed the broader purpose of the schools within the Church’s mission.
“Ideal moral character, which constitutes the bedrock of a good society,” he said, is as important as intellectual development.
He added that the Church viewed the schools as essential tools for shaping not only minds but values.
