VP Osinbajo Attends Funeral Service Of Chief (Sir) Arthur Uzoma Okorie Okowa (JP) On 21/08/2021

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE OF CHIEF (SIR) ARTHUR UZOMA OKORIE OKOWA, DELTA STATE ON 21^ST AUGUST 2021

PROTOCOLS

I am honoured to join so many from all over the country and around the world to celebrate the life and times of an outstanding pioneer educationist and committed public servant, the late Chief (Sir) Arthur Uzoma Okorie Okowa.  He was a man who devoted his entire life to public service, to his community and to the church.

The story of educational development in many communities in Delta and Edo State cannot be told without the extensive contributions of the late Chief Uzoma Okorie Okowa.

Indeed, there are entire communities that owe the level of their educational development to the labours of this great educationist. Pa Okowa was also devoted to the progress of Nigeria under the leadership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

When he returned from the University of Wales where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, he rejoined the Bendel State Civil Service where he served very fittingly as a teacher of  Principles and Practice of Education at the Teachers’ Training College in Onicha Olona.  Subsequently, he helped to found the Owa Onyibu Teachers’ Training College, where he retired as Principal Special Grade in 1984.

We have been told already that the late Sir Arthur Okowa was a devout Christian of the Anglican Faith. Today, as we celebrate the exceptional life of this great son and leader of the traditional kingdom in his hometown of Owa-Alero.

While we are reminded of the scripture in Proverbs 13 verse: “22 a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” I think it is obvious that the inheritance that a good man leaves cannot be houses, money or other forms of material wealth. In any event, there is no guarantee that material wealth can last generations. It must be something more enduring, ultimately it is a legacy, a legacy of faith, character, and selfless service to God and man.

It is only such inheritance, such legacy that influences the trajectory of the lives of children and grand children and indeed, whole communities and nations.

There’s no doubt that Pa Okowa has left an inheritance for his children and children’s children and for his community, for his state and for his nation.

That he took education and discipline so seriously, that he made it his life’s work, that he saw public service as a calling and politics as an important component of service to one’s community and to one’s people.

The Nation and the state have benefitted and still benefits because of the decisions that he made by the services of a well-bred and disciplined leadership of Senator Okowa His Excellency, Governor of Delta State today, first as a local chairman, then as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and now as Governor of Delta State.

A father’s faithfulness to the education of his own and others, his example of public service, integrity, and his commitment to his faith has given an inheritance that has endured and will by God’s grace, continue to endure.

This community, this state, this nation has been blessed by the life of this unassuming teacher. As we condole with his family and we pray that the Lord God Almighty will comfort you, we pray also, the memory and his legacy will remain forever blessed in Jesus name.

Thank you.