‘We are using functional education to liberate minds of youths’

The Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration is well disposed to using functional education to liberate the minds of Nigerian youths and cause them to have respect for the rights of fellow humans.

The state’s Deputy Governor, Mrs. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, stated this recently at a student briefing and film screening session, which was one of the events, that the United Nations Centre (UNIC), Lagos organised, in collaboration with Education District VI of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, to mark the 2016 International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. The theme of this year’s remembrance was “Holocaust and Human Dignity’.

Adebule, who was represented by the permanent secretary in the Education Ministry, Mrs. Olabisi Ariyo, pointed out that 71 years after the chilling experience, the terror and the inhuman treatment meted to innocent people who were seen as sub-humans still reverberate.

“The community we all live can only flourish if we respect the dignity of the individual and if we live in solidarity, love, peace and tolerance,” Adebule stated, assuring the United Nations Centre of the new administration’s support saying, “through our functional education, we will continue to promote the right values and morals that will make our young ones have respect for the rights, worth and dignity of others.”

At the event, which held at the Babs Fafunwa Millennium Senior Grammar School, with a handful of schools attending, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, said holocaust was a colossal crime that no one can deny it happened.

“By remembering the victims and honouring the courage of the survivors and those who assisted and liberated them, we annually renew our resolve to prevent such atrocities and reject the hateful mentality that allows them,” he said in a speech delivered by the Director of UN Centre, Lagos, Mr. Ronald Kayanja.

Moon said the holocaust was a powerful reminder of what could happen when humans stop seeing their common humanity, urging everyone to denounce political and religious ideologies that set people against people.

“Let us all speak out against anti-semitism and attacks against religious, ethnic or other groups, and let us create a world where dignity is respected, diversity is celebrated, and peace is permanent.”

In her welcome address, the Tutor General and Permanent Secretary of Education District Five, Mrs. Abimbola Anifowoshe, said the holocaust, which resulted in the destruction of two thirds of Europeans Jews remains one of the most painful reminders of the international community’s failure to protect holocaust victims.

“Regrettably, these things are still happening in every society of the world but government and non-governmental organisations will do everything within their powers to promote unity, love, human rights and equality before the law through education and stop any hindrance that will raise injustice in the society,” he added.

The Secretary of UNIC, Lagos, Mr. Oluseyi Soremekun, said UNIC has remained a strategic partner to Lagos State government, especially the office of the Deputy governor, just as he commended the state government’s commitment to increasing the knowledge base of students in the state.

Chief host/principal of the host school, Mrs Adebola Kolawole, said the collaboration with UNIC for the celebration couldn’t have come at a better time, with all the happenings around the world.

“As a teacher and administrator, I feel the need to carry the young ones along to be able to stand for peace, love and for their fellow humans, and not form the habit of shedding blood as if it was a normal thing to do.”