Senator Ekong Sampson, who represents the Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has urged secondary school students in the state to avoid practicing cultism because it can ruin their future professional lives.
He urged them to take their studies seriously and added that great leaders of the modern era did not rise to power through cultism but rather through a combination of grit and determination in academic endeavors.
While celebrating his 57th birthday with the students at Saint Francis Secondary School in the Eket Local Government area of the state over the weekend, Sampson, the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, issued the warning.
The senator explained his decision to spend his birthday in class by stating that he is a product of education and that he became who he is as a result of taking his pursuit of education seriously.
The senator prayed that he would want to see them succeed in their chosen careers, becoming medical doctors, engineers, pilots, and other professions, while noting that education still remains the key to a long and successful life.
He said ” I’m here as a product of education, I have worked hard to promote education because without education I wouldn’t have been where I am today.
‘”Today, I am the Vice chairman Senate Committee on Education, I thank the Senate President, senator Godswill Akpabio, and my colleagues who allowed me to be involved in education in the Senate. The more we promote education, the more we tackle social vices that confront us such as insecurity and the rest.
“So, we must not leave education in the hands of government alone; every stakeholder should be involved in education. During my birthday, I go to school to teach. I have taught in Mkpat-Enin school, last year, I was at Mbo, and today is the turn of Eket.
“We are thanking God that Akwa Ibom State is taking centre stage through a young man called John Obot, who has broken the Guinness World Record in marathon reading aloud. John Obot has become a national and international Icon.
“Don’t allow yourself to be involved in cultism because cultists cannot get to where I am today. Governor Udom Emmanuel is not a cultist, Senator Godswill Akpabio is not a cultist, President Bola Tinubu, from what I have heard is not a cultist; they all made it through education.
He promised to build a befitting staff quarter for the school and transform in the entire school.
The senator started the celebration with a lecture he delivered titled ” Imagination in Essay Composition: Unity in tenses at the end of which he donated a token to a few students who excelled in the spelling competition.
