Girl-child education essential to national development’

The immediate past president, St. Maria Goretti Old Girl’s Association (SMAGOGA) and Managing Director of Trans-World Security System Ltd, Dame Victoria Ekhomu, has called on stakeholders to encourage girl and women empowerment in the country, noting that it is essential for economic development, growth and poverty reduction not only because of the income it generates but also because it helps to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

She made this known at the commissioning of the fence, gate and road beautification of the school.

“The fence project became critical as a result of the high insecurity in St. Maria Goretti School and in Nigeria. We observed that many schools had no fence.

So, we needed to take immediate action to rectify the problem.

With the frequent incursions into the school by hoodlums, we were greatly affected by the huge risk our students, teachers and school infrastructure face.”

The school was founded in 1959 by the then Bishop of Benin, the late Bishop Patrick Joseph Kelly, in conjunction with Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) Irish Sisters with the objective to educate young girls in Nigeria.

Unfortunately, with the take over of schools by government from the missionaries, without necessary subventions, St. Maria Goretti has witnessed systematic decay.