Aregbesola bags lifetime achievement award

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola was on Thursday in Abuja conferred with a lifetime achievement award by the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN).

The National President of the association, Mr Haruna Danjuma, said that the award was based on Aregbesola’s outstanding performances as a former governor of Osun and as minister, especially, in the area of education.

Danjuma was represented by the Deputy National President of the association, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo.

The national president described Aregbesola as an astute administrator and a humanist, who had devoted his time to the service to humanity.

“We have no choice than to celebrate him and give him an award, as well as appreciate him and his work ,as a major stakeholder in education sector in the country.

“This award, we believe, will go a long way to spur him up to continue to do more and for our children to emulate him and take over from him in all strata of human endeaviour,” he said.

Danjuma, however, said that the minister’s giant strides while he was the governor of Osun, was worthy of commendation.

He added that the minister succeeded in standardising the educational system of Osun by building about 3, 685 classrooms among others for the benefit of the people of the state.

“This is the area he stands tall among his contemporaries and the statistics are there for everyone to see, hence our resolve to honour him with an award,” the PTA

Danjuma added that as a minister, Aregbesola had succeeded in changing the nomenclature of the nation’s Prison Service which culminated in rebranding the service as the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).

“Today, the inmates in our correctional centres can now enroll in education, even up to higher institutions and the surprising thing is that most of them come out in flying colours.

“The inmates are also encouraged in all the correctional centres to enroll in vocational/technical studies so that at the end of their jail term, they can be useful to themselves, parents, the society and the country.

“As parents, some of us have lost hope in some of them serving jail terms, but he succeeded in changing the narratives for the better,” he added.

Earlier, the minister thanked the association for finding him worthy of the award, adding that he would continue to partner with them in their quest to build the nation.

Aregbesola, however, promised to continue to do his best for the state and the country at large, especially, in the area of education.