Azikel Group President Restates Commitment to Education

Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The President of the Azikel Group, Dr. Azibapu Eruani, has restated his commitment to support efforts to consolidate education interventions in Bayelsa State, saying education remains the bedrock of a better society.

Eruani said this when the Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund  Board paid him a courtesy visit in Yenagoa.

Eruani, who  is the president of the Azikel Group with subsidiaries of  Dredging, Aviation, Power and Petroleum Refining, in response to the plethora of challenges itemised  by the  Bayelsa  State Education Development Trust Fund  Board, made an instant donation of N10 million to the board.

He said the fund was to rekindle and facilitate effort towards achieving the mandate of the board.

A statement issued by his Media Assistant, Austin Ebipade, made available to THISDAY in Yenagoa, averred that the quality of his primary education in Emadike in Ogbia Local Government Area was instrumental to his success in career and in business.

He submitted that many have doubted the reality that he schooled in his community, adding what they believe was that his early education was in Europe and the United State of America.

Continuing, the Bayelsa industrialist said the education he obtained is the bedrock of his exploit in career and as a successful businessman, who is now leading the new industrialisation in the Niger Delta and Nigeria, especially in driving  the wheels of industry in motion towards improving infrastructural development and moving the country towards the sustainability of cleaner energy through the establishment of the first private hydroskimming oil refinery in Nigeria.

Lauding the team for congratulating him on his conferment with the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic by President Muhammadu Buhari, he said the quality education he had play a key role for has  brought recognition and his unrelenting advancements in society.

He, however, noted that he is not resting on his oasis, adding that his commitment in business and the industrialisation has place Bayelsa State on a global map.

Eruani submitted that he would continue to stand for Nigeria and the state to bequeath a better society for the present and generation unborn.

The Azikel chief executive posited that he has been an ardent supporter of education, adding that he has granted several scholarships to Bayelsans and Nigerians in tertiary institutions home and abroad.

Speaking earlier, the pokesman of the Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund team, Prof. Francis Sikoki, had itemised the challenges in the education sector for which the committee is established to include poverty-induced increase rate of out-of-school children, dilapidated buildings, leaking roofs, dearth of instructional materials amongst others.