The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Amadou Jallow
8 July 2009
The president of the Republic, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, yesterday received in audience, Bishop Dr David Oyedepo, chancellor of Covenant University in Lagos, Nigeria.
Dr Oyedepo is also the president of the Living Church International, also known as Winners Chapel. The objectives of Dr Oyedepo's audience with The Gambian leader, according to officials, centred on the anticipated strengthening of bilateral relationship between The Gambia and the Covenant University. Speaking at the ceremony, at his office in Banjul, The Gambian leader told Dr Oyedepo that in The Gambia education is key, and a priority area on the government's development agenda. "In order to move Africa forward," the president noted, "we must educate our children."
President added that if all the African religious heads were as conscious as Dr bishop Oyedepo, the education level of the continent would have improved long since. According to him, Africa's worst enemy is ignorance, which, he observed, cannot be eliminated by politics. "This was why when I came in 1994, education, agriculture and health formed the principal targets of my development agenda." President Jammeh remarked.
The Gambian leader then thanked Bishop Oyedepo and his delegation for coming to explore the level of development in The Gambia, saying, "In as much as we are looking for a stronger partnership between your university and the University of The Gambia, we wish that you build another university here." For his part, the visiting bishop, Dr Oyedepo, chancellor of Covenant University, Africa said that was once leading in civilisation and education. According to him, it is high time for Africans to take their responsibilities and regain its lost glory in education. "I have discovered that the true fundamental for national transformation is education," Dr Oyedepo noted, and added, "no great nation is built by great governments, it is great people who build great nations."
The Government of The Gambia, he went on, is doing a lot in terms of education, but he was quick to add that government cannot do every thing. "I believe that with the wisdom God endowed on our African leaders, they will carter special budgets for education," he stated. Like in the words of The Gambian leader, Dr Oyedepo is also with the belief that if education is made a priority by African leaders, it will serve as a remedy to reduce the uneducated people who normally end up being criminals in society.
Dr Oyedepo then hailed President Jammeh on the developments he has registered in the country and hoped that the relationship between The Gambia and Covenant University will grow to bear more meaningful fruit. Fatou Lamin Faye, minister of Basic and Secondary Education, assured the visiting bishop that and his delegation about The Gambia government's commitment to making education accessible to every child in the country. According to her, President Jammeh had made all possibilities for Gambian children to access education, making reference to the Jammeh Foundation for Peace and president's Empowerment of Girls Education Project.
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