Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has declared that the scale of transformation his administration has recorded in the education sector is unprecedented, describing it as something that has never happened in Nigeria’s history.
Mbah made the remarks on Saturday during the rally organised by the people of Enugu West Senatorial District to endorse him and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a second term in office, where he highlighted key achievements of his administration in education and social services.
The governor said his administration deliberately prioritised education as the foundation for sustainable development, stressing that early childhood learning remains central to preparing children for the future.
According to him, the government introduced a strategic “cut-off point” policy to ensure children are enrolled early and exposed to the right learning environment from the age of three.
“When you get them skilfully equipped, when you expose them to the right values, the right civic and moral habits, which is why we have introduced what is known as a cut-off point, making sure we catch our young ones at age three.
“We put them through the pipeline of early child learning, expose them with the right skills, the right social, the right civic and the right moral values, and get them exposed to a learning environment that prepares them to deal with the future with the relevant work skills,” Mbah said.
He noted that the policy has driven the establishment of Smart Green Schools across all the 260 electoral wards in the state within just three years of his administration.
“And which is why today, three years after swearing in, you have the Smart Green School standing across the 260 electoral wards,” he stated.
Governor Mbah also announced that the state government would commence the implementation of a free school feeding programme for over 300,000 pupils in public schools from September 2026.
He explained that the initiative is designed not only to improve access to education but also to ensure children receive at least one nutritious meal daily while strengthening the state’s social welfare system.
“We are going to start implementing by September a free school meal for our over 300,000 children.
“That means we are not only growing our economy at your expense or at the expense of our common humanity. We are growing our economy and doing what? Channelling the funds to social services, making sure that we provide one nutritious meal to every child in public school in this state come September 2026,” he said.
Speaking further, the governor described the achievements recorded in the education sector as extraordinary, insisting that the level of infrastructure and innovation introduced by his administration had set a new national standard.
“Let me tell you, what we have done in the education sector is absolutely insane. It has never happened in the history of this country. Building about 7,000 brand new classrooms within three years,” he declared.
He added that the classrooms were not just physical structures but were equipped with cutting-edge facilities to prepare students for the demands of a modern economy.
“Equipping them with modern technology centres, robotic centres, artificial intelligence centres, CGI studios, world-class ICT hubs, e-library, smart board in all classes. In the classrooms, we have done that. You did this,” he said.
Mbah, however, attributed the success of the reforms to the support and confidence reposed in him by the people of Enugu State, saying their decision years ago made the transformation possible.
“Who did this? You did it. The decision you took five years ago did it,” the governor added.
