Basic Education In Cross River State Was Below Expectation Before My Appointment – Stephen Odey, Cross River SUBEB Chairman

By Jeremiah Archibong

Basic education in Cross River State before the advent of the incumbent administration was below expectations says the Chairman, Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board (CR-SUBEB) Dr. Stephen Odey.

Stephen who disclosed this recently in his office while addressing executives of the Cross River state branch of the Young Lawyers Forum led by Barrister Enome Amatey, said that he has overcome the obstacles and has accessed five years marching grant from 2010 to 2015 and is preparing to collect that of 2016.

“The State Government previously was not able to access our marching grant for five years but since Prof. Ben Ayade came on board as the Governor he has released some funds to us and now we are ahead of other States. So basically there will be a lot of changes in our basic education sector and we are poised to move the system to the next level so that at the end of my tenure here we would begin to look ahead of other States.

Continuing, he said that; “My coming to SUBEB is on a rescue mission, I discovered that basic education is Cross River State was below expectation, the Universal Basic Education in Abuja can now say that we are on top now within the short period we came in.

“We are already going digital because we are bringing in modern schools, the Canadian model which will be the first of its kind in Africa”.

Earlier, Amatey said the visit is to familiarize with lawyers who have made their mark in their various endeavors.

“As part of the activities to kick off our tenure we thought it wise to create a structure through which the forum can benefit, we are looking at a structure where we as the executive members and then forum will be on one hand and the few elite members will be at the other end for us to tap from their experience whenever the need arise.

“As executives, what we seek to achieve within the next two years is to create a proper structure which the forum and of course coming executives can benefit from. Because we are young lawyers and the future of the bar rests on our shoulder and for us is to create opportunity where young lawyers can engage in capacity building, benefit from experience of elders, benefit from others even as we try to create young lawyers beyond litigation”.

Concluding, he acknowledged that, “Law practice is evolving; we are trying to prepare ourselves for the nearest future, so that we could compete with our colleagues in other jurisdiction”.

Also, Stephen who is a lawyer and called to bar, was made patron of the organization.