Former
Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has revealed that she could
not afford to pay her mother’s rent while serving in government.
During a live interview with the former minister who was invited to speak to a church congregation on the topic,
“Integrity.” That
was when she told the congregation that integrity comes with its cost,
adding that she did not spend from her imprest accounts as minister of
Solid Minerals, and later, Education.
“There were times
I couldn’t pay my mother’s rent, not because I couldn’t make a choice
and build her a mansion. When I was in government, we had to withdraw
our three children from their school to Baptist Special School. I was
(just) answering big titles. Some of you would have said, ‘They are
eating our money’. May God save those who speak without knowledge! I am
not saying this so that you can say I am holy, I have my shortcomings. Integrity
will cost you a lot. Anyone who talks about integrity without the cost
is preaching what I do not know about. Integrity can require a supreme
cost from you. You will be persecuted for making the choice of integrity
but make that choice nonetheless,’’ she said.
Ezekwesili,
who was a former Vice President (Africa Region) of the World Bank,
however, attributed her activism to God and family background.
“I had to ask God to help me identify scriptural verses and the heroes
and heroines that made the right choices when it was required. My
foundation was strong in the areas of values. My father would say to us,
‘A good name is better than gold and all the riches of the earth.’ Man
is incapable of giving me anything God has not given to me,’’ she added.
Asked
why she chose to be an advocate for the 219 schoolgirls kidnapped at
the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in April,
Ezekwesili said she could not afford to pretend ‘as if nothing
happened’, adding that criticisms would not deter her from pressurising
the Federal Government to rescue the girls.
“The 219
children of the poor remind me of my own poor background before I became
a beneficiary of what God has done. God forbids that Oby Ezekwesili
will be in this land and 219 girls, who went to get the same education
that I got, were abducted and I will pretend as if nothing happened.
It was clear in my mind that all kinds of things will be said, but I
don’t do jobs; I only do assignments. God said to me that concerning
these girls, I should be their voices. In February, 59 boys were
slaughtered in their school and we all carried on as if nothing
happened. You read my citation,’’ she said.
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