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By Young E. Freeborn, Warri
A community leader in Uwheru kingdom, Mr. Paris Ukpemeku, has called on the Delta State government to reopen the Okugbe Secondary School, Ogode, in Uwheru kingdom, Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state, which he said “was abandoned many years ago,” impacting negatively on education in the area.
In a letter addressed to the commissioner for Basic Education in the state and made available to newsmen, Mr. Ukpemeku wrote, “I wish to draw the attention of the Delta State government to the re-opening of the Okugbe Secondary School at Ogode community, Uwheru kingdomin Ughelli North LGA.
”This school was founded in 1980 under the administration of the then Governor of Bendel State, the late Professor Ambrose Ali. The school then served five different communities namely: Owarovwo, Ogode, Uvwriche, Oreba and Ophororo, all in Uwheru kingdom. This, to a great extent, brought education closer to the children at that time, even though they were from rural communities.
“However, due to negligence and harsh policies by the then Military Administrator of Bendel State, the late Brigadier Jeremiah Useni, the school was abandoned in 1984. At the moment, school children from the afore-mentioned communities now trek a very long distance from their different communities to Agadama Secondary School with their huge population under the sun or rain.
“The strenuous trekking of the school children to Agadama Secondary School is not encouraging at this moment because of the high level of insecurity in those places as caused by the nefarious activities of the deadly Fulani herdsmen that are constantly terrorizing those Uwheru communities especially the Agadama Secondary School that they now use as their base in every dry season. This has badly affected the academic progress and the general education of these innocent children,” the letter read.
Mr. Ukpemeku also called on notable men and women, especially Hon. Spencer Ohwofa, the member representing Ughelli North Constituency 2 in the state House of Assembly, to give the needed support to the move to get the Delta State government to consider as a matter of importance, the plight of the children in those Uwheru rural communities and re-open the Okugbe Secondary School for the new 2023/2024 academic year.
