The church must help clear the rot in our education ―Bishop Oke

FOUNDER and Presiding Bishop of The Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Bishop Wale Oke has emphasized the need for the church to be involved in clearing the rot in the education sector and other sectors of the country.

Oke made this call when he led other top management staff and officials of the newly licensed Precious Cornerstone University (PCU), Ibadan, on a courtesy call on the management team of University of Ibadan, led by its Vice Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka, on Monday.

According to Oke, the church, having brought education into the country, must continue to be involved in providing direction to education and governance.

He consequently said Precious Cornerstone University was established to provide world-class education, clear the rot in the education system, build human capacities for a better country and world, at large.

Pointing to the renowned status of the University of Ibadan, Oke urged the management of the premier university to provide expert advice, mentorship, and assist in staff development, examination supervision, recruitment of principal officers.

While expressing confidence that the University of Ibadan will provide the direction sought, Oke assured that the governing council of PCU will be made up of competent individuals to drive the university towards the envisaged vision and mission.

“The church brought education to this country and must continue to be involved. The church has to be involved in clearing the rot in the education system.

“We are very glad that the premier university in Nigeria is to mentor us. They have the resources, the capacity and the experience that we can tap into and we will tap into it maximally.

“Our expectation is that UI will give us mature guidance; they will give us one of their staff to be a member of our governing council and be involved in our appointment of principal officers and genuine governance of the university. Our vision is to have a world-class university and one of the criteria for that is good governance of the university.

“The church will not get involved in the governance. We will just provide the vision, the direction, and the resources. We will leave the governance in the hands of the qualified and competent professionals who know how to govern a university. That is one of the areas which we will rely on the competence and wealth of experience of UI to ensure that the stability in governance and that PCU is governed according to world class standard to get a world class result,” Oke said.

On the entourage of Bishop Oke, who doubles as the promoter of the PCU was his wife, Dr. Victoria Oke; the university’s Chairman, Board of Trustees, General Oladayo Popoola (retd); Chairman, Governing Council, Dr Bayo Adegoke; Chairman, Strategic Implementation Committee, Professor Timothy Adejumo and other management staff.

In his remarks, Professor Olayinka noted that tertiary institutions required a lot of financial resources, a high concentration of staff and students, capable governing council to continue to live up to their expectations.

Olayinka expressed satisfaction that private universities were providing credible space to solve the challenge of inadequate carrying capacity in universities to accommodate millions of students seeking admission every year.

He assured the management of PCU that the University of Ibadan will provide the needed mentorship and support, adding that tertiary institutions must continue to collaborate to build human capacity.