By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba
The Chairman of Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), Chief Patrick Ejike Ugbaja, has pledged the maximum support of his office, to an NGO known as Association for Universal Moral Education Nigeria (AUMEN).
Chief Patrick Ugbaja, who gave the assurance when he received the executive and some members of the group on a courtesy call at his office, ASUBEB Headquarters, Awka, Anambra State, on September 12, 2019, said the support was necessary, to ensure success of the association’s moral-teaching roles in schools and in society.
According to Ugbaja, ‘Nigerians are more religious, yet lacked moral. If AUMEN could use the association to tackle religious bigotry, corruption, cyber-crime, and other vices that had eaten deep into the country Nigeria would a better place.
He continued, ‘Being religious and immoral at the same time, had been the Nigerian problem. If we can have a moral proven counter, we will have a better society’ Pointing out that fighting crime in a contemporary society amounted to fighting war, the ASUBEB boss charged the executive and members of AUMEN, to guard their loins so as to achieve their objectives.
Ugbaja, who recalled that in his secondary school days, only Religious Instructions, which he said was carried out haphazardly, was heard of, commended the association for trying to strike a balance between Religious Instruction and Moral Education, and make society better with the latter.
He congratulated the National Coordinator of AUMEN, Rev Sr Dr Mary Jude-Therese Nwodo, IHM, for bringing in the association from its international body to Nigeria, and subsequently to Anambra State, which stood as the pilot state in the country.
Earlier in her speech, the National Coordinator of AUMEN, Sr Nwodo, IHM, said they were on the courtesy call to intimate the new ASUBEB boss of the activities of the association as well as inform and invite him to the 4th Annual National Conference of AUMEN fixed for Thursday, 28th November 2019, at UNIZIK, Awka.
According to the National Coordinator, AUMEN, which came into existence in Nigeria, and in Anambra State as a pilot state in 2012, was a member of the international organization known as Association for Moral Education (AME) that started in USA in1979.
Sr Nwodo, IHM, who highlighted the activities of the association, noted that AUMEN had been through its 21 pilot schools across the 21 Local Government Areas of Anambra State, trying to from cradle, mould the children into the responsible individuals they were expected to be.
She said that competitions on moral education, were also organized for the school children at local government and state levels.
On the 2019 Annual Conference, the National Coordinator said the conference which would focus on the youths, who according to her, were the hearts of society, had “Moral Formation: A Paradigm for Enhancing Positive Attitude Among Youths”, as its theme.
The national coordinator, who is also the Anambra State Moral Education Desk Officer, expressed her delight over the assurance of maximum support from the ASUBEB boss. Sr Nwodo charged the Moral Education Desk Officers of the 21 local government areas of the state, who she said had been empowered by Ugbaja, to live up to the demands of their responsibilities.
