It is said that education is the bedrock of any society because without education there can be no meaningful development in any society.
It is therefore, the bone of societal development. It is often said that the best legacy a father can give to his children is education.
This assertion has clearly manifested in the activities of Dr. Walter Liverpool, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Bayelsa state.
His performance has transformed Bayelsa state from an educationally disadvantaged state to an educationally advantaged state. This has placed it among the community of states in Nigeria ranking high in external examination as well as national and international competitions.
The transformation of the education sector in Bayelsa has made the students of tertiary institutions across the state to call on the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, to appoint Dr. Walter Liverpool, though a serving Permanent Secretary, as the commissioner for education in the state.
The spokesman’s of the group, Mr. Ebipade Kabowei, who made the call when they paid a courtesy call on the permanent secretary, said “it will be a round peg in a round hole.”
He explained that Dr Liverpool’s transformation agenda in the education sector in Bayelsa state started with the creation of Bayelsa state in 1996.
“When he was appointed a board member of the State Universal Education Board as a representative of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), due to his effective representation and efficient way towards the upgrading of the educational facilities, Liverpool was given the mandate to continue as the board member until 2011”.
In 2012, Liverpool was appointed Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education (UBE) under the administration of Rt. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, the position he held until 2019 when he was appointed Permanent Secretary.
Again, Liverpool ensured the completion of 25 basic secondary schools and teachers’ quarters abandoned by the previous administration.
In 2012 Bayelsa was one of the states ravaged by flood, and this was a trying time as more schools across the state were submerged. After the flood, there were problems of how to reconstruct and rehabilitate the affected schools.
Liverpool rose to the occasion by renovating the schools affected by flood, rehabilitating the staff and students who were displaced due to the effects of the flood and reintegrating them to the school system.
Furthermore, non-existing schools and ghost workers found their way into the state government payroll a menace that almost ran the government down.
The committee was set up to look into the school and staff verification. At the end of the exercise, several existing schools were stamped out and ghost workers’ names deleted from the voucher thereby reducing the wage bill to the barest minimum, even as genuine workers were paid their entitlements as and when due.
In order to inject fresh ideas into the educational system for the teachers to meet up with the global standard, Liverpool saw the training and retraining of teachers as a priority. To this end, teachers’ training schools were established at Bolou-Orua in Sagbama local government area of Bayelsa state for the training of non-educationally certified teachers. Moreover, many teachers were given opportunities for upgrading and awarded scholarships to study for their Master’s and doctorate degrees both within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
Following this, the state was catapulted from 26th position in external examination to the first five positions in external examination, the position which it is maintaining todate.
Liverpool said on assumption of duty as a permanent secretary there were no electricity and running water for staff use, but within one month of his assumption, there has been constant water and power supply in the complex
On the call for his appointment as a commissioner for education, he said, “I will not decline any call to serve most especially as it involves human development. ICT development in all schools will be my primary assignment as the world is going digital”.
He commended the immediate past governor, Henry Seraike for his foresight in establishing two additional universities in the state, the African University and the Medical University.
