By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
Before March 10, 2019, a google search of the name Success Adegor would probably have yielded few results of a random person by the name. However, a video of the seven-year old venting about not being allowed in school for owing exam fees changed everything.
In the video, she complained to Stephanie Idolor, the neighbour behind the camera, about being forced out of school because her motorcyclist father and petty trader mother could not afford the N900 examination levy that was imposed on pupils of the Okotie Eboh Primary School 1, Sapele, Delta State.
Speaking in Pidgin English, she faulted the teachers for forcing her out of school and expressed determination to continue going even though she would be flogged. “Na dem go tire. As dem say dem stubborn I go tell them say I stubborn pass”, she said as she stomped off.
Well, social media did its magic and Success became a star.
Celebrities and politicians soon began falling over themselves to favour her. A popular comedian in Warri, Mr Jollof, promised to fund Success’ education up to university level.
The Chairman of Sapele Local Government Area, Chief Eugene Unuaghan, offered her scholarship and gave her father, Godwin, job in the council. The Private Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Mr. Hilary Ibegbule, visited the family on behalf of the Delta State Government. There were promises of a new home for the family to relocate from their one-room apartment to a better accommodation.
Apart from money, Success also got modelling contract from a Dubai-based fashion firm, House of Michybal, which signed her as a kid model/brand ambassador. The firm promised her a year’s supply of clothes.
Success got interviewed by major media outlets following the incident that shot her into limelight.
Such was the promise of the young girl’s popularity for her sharp tongue and courage that Stephanie, the neighbour who shot the video demanded to benefit from the largesse. She reportedly got a car and some money for her effort.
Her school
Success’ video beamed searchlight on her school. Though the goodwill of scholarship and money did not extend from Success to her peers at the Okotie Eboh Primary School 1, it however drew the Delta State government’s attention to the school’s deplorable state.
The buildings of the school were in a state of disrepair – with the roofs of some classrooms almost caving in and unfit for human habitation at the time of the incident.
The Nation learnt the school had been scheduled for rehabilitation prior to the incident. However, Success’ video sped up the process and it was rebuilt. The then Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Chiedu Ebie, said the video influenced the implementation of the project which had been awarded since November 2018.
Also, the government clamped down on illegal levy collection in public schools. It suspended the Head Teacher of Okotie Eboh Primary School 1, Mrs. Vero Igbigwe, and read the riot act to others.
The new Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, has also followed up on the clamp down on collection of illegal levies. A statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Sam Izeh, noted that 15 head teachers and others were recently sanctioned for collecting unauthorised levies from public school pupils – with one of them, Mr. Ishmael Omolade, removed as the Principal of Ogor Technical College, and mandated to repay N11.124 million.
Following Success’ video, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a civil society organisation (CSO) sued the Delta State government in May seeking explanation about how it utilized universal basic education (UBE) funds between 2015 and 2019.
The group sued after the Delta State government, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Abuja, and the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) refused to reveal its spending despite SERAP invoking the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
SERAP noted in a statement then: “Tens of thousands of Nigerian children are being left behind in Delta State and their futures put in jeopardy. These children are being short-changed and they deserve to know how much exactly the state government spent between 2015 and 2019, on their education.
“The evidence of education deficit in the state is further buttressed by the case of Success Adegor, who was sent home because her parents could not pay the illegal school fee/levy of N900 and the insufficient and poor-quality education infrastructure of Okotie-Eboh Primary School 1, Sapele.”
Promises galore
The social media hype that followed the video did not make overnight millionaires of Success’ family.
Though her family received unspecified sum of money from well wishers, her mother, Vera, said most of the promises were unfulfilled.
She told The Nation on phone that the scholarships did not materialise save for one by Mr Charles Opaleke that covers the girl’s education up to Primary Six.
She also said the promised job for her husband did not materialise, and the family did not get funds to move to a mansion as promised. However, the family did relocate from the one room face-me-I-face-you rental that housed her parents, two older siblings and herself in Urban Area of Sapele to a one-bedroom house.
“The one that said he would take us to a new apartment did not come. We are still living in our house. The local government chairman that promised my husband work later said there was nothing for him now. All the people that promised scholarship did not fulfil it. It was only one Mr Opaleke who paid school fees from Primary Four to Primary Six. We did not see the others,” she said.
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