14-Year-Old Becomes Commissioner In Bayelsa State (Photos)

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon Seriake Dickson has once again been commended for

using education as a tool to change the negative narratives about the state. The

overall winner of the state Essay Writing Competition, Master Africanus Noel, gave

the commendation while acting as Child Commissioner for Education in the Ministry

on Monday in Yenagoa.

The 14-year old Child Education Commissioner who is an SS1 student of the Ijaw

National Academy, Kaiama, particularly lauded the Governor for establishing world

class free boarding secondary schools across the state.

 According to Hon Noel, the quality of school infrastructure provided by the present
administration does not only give Bayelsa students a sense of pride but also serve
as a source of encouragement for them to work harder.

Describing education as the foundation for any meaningful development, he
identified lack of proper education and value orientation as the major cause for
cultism, prostitution and other social vices in the country.
Introducing the Child Commissioner to government functionaries in his office, the
substantive Commissioner for Education, Hon Jonathan Obuebite assured that the
Dickson-led government would continue to make appropriate investments in the
education sector to guarantee a more secure and prosperous future.

Hon Obuebite said he initiated the Essay Writing Competition and Child
Commissioner concept to serve as a motivational tool as well as promote creativity
and healthy competition among students.
He noted that the initiative would enable the child commissioner to be acquainted
with the art of government and leave a pleasant impression in the mind of the
beneficiary.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-
Markson called on parents to take advantage of the state government’s free and
compulsory education policy by sending their children to school.
Hon. Iworiso-Markson who noted that Bayelsa now ranks among the few states with
good public schools in the country, also urged pupils and students to reciprocate
government’s effort by taking their education seriously as there is no short cut to
success.

Speaking earlier, the Coordinator of the 2018 Essay Writing Competition, Mr. Michael
Afenfia described the winners as excellent. He said they were selected by a crack
team of impartial judges, using grammatical accuracy, diction, creativity, punctuation,
knowledge of the subject matter among other criteria.