By Fortune Eromosele, ABUJA

Wife of Uche Nwosu and daughter to former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, Mrs Uloma-Rochas Nwosu, who is the President of the Aretean School, has shared with Vanguard her passion for not just presiding over a school but her flare for the less privileged as well as breeding scholars that would turn world leaders.

Addressing newsmen shortly after a visit by the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Oludolapo Osinbajo, to the Aretean School, Abuja, Uloma Nwosu emphatically states her vision, goals and aspirations for the school and its scholars.

About The Aretean

The Aretean School was established in July, 2021, located in Area 11, FCT-Abuja. The school has the Creche to Primary sections for now and looks to expand to the secondary level as well as becoming a tertiary institution in the coming years. The vision is to be the first Ivy League school in Nigeria by producing the next generation of leaders. They fondly and deliberately refer to their students as “scholars.”

According to Uloma, it is the tradition of the school to continually invite national and world leaders to inspire their scholars.

Aside the visit of Mrs Osinbajo on Thursday, other popular and prominent leaders who had visited the school in the past were the former and the first female president of Liberia, Madam Sirleaf Johnson and the current governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade. “Without any doubt, the impact of their visits had been felt by every scholar of our school,” Uloma said.

“This is the reason we are confident that the visit of the Wife of the Vice President of Nigeria will have a great impact as well. Beyond being the wife of the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs. Oludolapo Osinbajo has been a great role model to our scholars. Hence, the desire to invite her to our prestigious school has always been at the top of our list of guests,” Uloma said.

Explaining her ideas behind the Aretean School, she said, “The idea behind the Aretean, is that first of all, we’ve recognised the increasing gap between the Nigerian leadership and its people and hence we’ve identified that it as a result of people constantly seeking a better education outside the shores of this nation.

“So we’ve decided to create a very well comfortable environment, that encourages our children to come back here and seek an education, so that they can imbibe our culture, foster the idea of patriotism, love for country so that we can breed better leaders. The idea of the Aretean is to breed scholars that will lead this country in the future.”

Out-of-school children

According to a global data on out-of-school children by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Nigeria now has about 20 million out-of-school children. With this alarming figures, Uloma Nwosu has said the Aretean School has a resolve for less privileged children who cannot afford education.

She said, “The Aretean has the CSR arm, where we also extend to underprivileged children who cannot afford their education. Personally, I’m involved in a foundation that’s looking to providing free education to less privileged children.

“We have 13 schools around Nigeria already and that’s not even enough. We’ve trained over 25,000 children, that’s something we are working on, it’s an all-round system and you can never have enough of that.”

In her talk to the Aretean scholars, wife of the Vice President, Mrs Oludolapo Osinbajo, rated character over having degrees, encouraging the scholars to be decent in the society as well as prioritising education and their studies.

She said, “Education is a way of life not only to the scholars but to the teachers and other staff, it teaches honour, honesty, loyalty, integrity, hard work, godliness and kindness. All these things undergird every good virtue needed in society.

“If only we knew that they lied to us when they told us we couldn’t do it, I came to tell you today that we will and we can. I used to go to one of the most dangerous parts of Lagos some years ago to speak to the people there. The message I take to them is that they are precious, they only believed the lies they were told in the past. They believed no one would ever love them. The message I took to them is what I brought here today, you are precious, you can and you will make it.

“I want you to remember when they tell you things you don’t want to hear, no matter how terrible the words are, I want you to remember how precious you are. Sitting here are future governors, great scientists, CEO of industries, among many others.

“Teachers should handle the scholars with honour and respect, know that in your classroom, you are the one that makes the difference until they grow to adulthood, you have the privilege to be part of their story.

“Nobody can make you lower without your permission, refuse to give permission to those who think you can’t do it,” she stressed.