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By Ukandi Christopher
The people of Oginigba Community have expressed surprise that a premier state primary school has allegedly been abandoned by the Rivers State government for over twelve years.
State Primary School Oginigba, Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, has reportedly been in dilapidation since after the Chibuike Amaechi administration gave it a facelift.
The people of the Oginigba have called on the state governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, to urgently complete the abandoned primary school project in the community.
The school project which is part of the iconic Amaechi administration’s model schools sited in all 23 local government areas of the state was allegedly abandoned with the Nyesom Wike administration giving it scant attention in the eight years of his rule.
With the non completion of the project, Oginigba Community is groaning and its leaders are expressing worry that if government does not intervene, things would remain the same or get worse.
Our correspondent’s visit to the school revealed that the school was at about 80% completion, but due to its abandonment, the structure had dilapidated with some parts of the roofing giving way.
Explaining the plight of the community, the Community Development Committee chairman, Evang. Christian Odum said “The school project was conceived when the old school’s building could no longer accommodate the population of pupils.
“But because it has remained uncompleted, the old school building (School 1) can no longer handle the population of children in the community. And as a result, a lot of them are now forced to attend other schools in nearby communities such as Rumubiakani amd Rumuomasi.”
He lamented that the cost and risk involved in having children from Oginigba go to school in other communities cannot be underestimated, some of which include risk of accident and high cost of transportation.
“We have had series of meetings with the headmistress and found out that we lack teachers too. In a classroom, we have over 30 pupils causing over crowding and congestion, a situation which the completion of school II project would alleviate.
“Outside the cost of transport, other risks are that with little children going all the way from Oginigba to Rumubiakani and Rumuomasi, some may become misguided, turn to truancy and parental worries such as funding the cost of transport, lunch and the economy.
“So, you see that when they say free education, the free education is no longer there because of what they are spending at the end of the day.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the governor to come to our aid and complete this school project urgently before the next academic session,” he said.
An Old Boy of the school Chief John Amadi, who currently serves as the Chief Protocol Officer to His Royal Highness Amb Gershon Odum, king of Oginigba Kingdom, lamented the state of the state Primary School II building project and joined the call for government intervention.
He said, “The school II project started in 2012 and was supposed to terminate in 2014. But along the line I don’t know what happened after Amaechi left. But to our greatest surprise the government of Wike abandoned it even when it had reached advance stage of completion.
“Our appeal is that this school is central to the development of Oginigba community, anybody that is who is who in this community passed through this school, including myself.
“The non completion of this school project may erode that essence that the school has brought to our community. Our appeal is that Governor Sim Fubara should complete the project so that the spirit of state primary school Oginigba will not die.”
In the same vein, the Chief Security Officer of the community, Chima Ogbonda, said the abandonment of the project has put pressure on School One building, with its classroom of 40 pupils now accommodating one hundred pupils.
“This has affected the teaching environment and students hardly hear what the teachers are teaching and the standards are getting lower and lower each day.
“We hold this school in high esteem because of its past excellence in school competitions. In school debates in Obio Akpor local Government, the school has regularly come first and second or third at the state level. Now we are afraid that because of the poor learning environment, we may not attain that standard again if the government of Sim Fubara does not intervene to complete the school project.”
