• Fubara begins massive renovation of schools
A first time visitor would find it hard to believe that Umusharam Umuozocha Igbodo community is part of Rivers, the oil-rich state renowned for its infrastructural development, particularly under the immediate past administration of former governor Nyesom Wike. The miserable life in the said community is a complete contrast with what obtains in most others around the state. Lacking every basic amenity, it looks every bit like abandoned habitat.
Accessing Umusharam Umuozocha is a herculean task. The road that stretches to the area is decrepit. Despite all the community development efforts of former Governor Nyesom Wike, who even constructed the first link road to Rumuodogo community from the East-West road in Emohua Local Government Area, the state government seems to have forgotten Umusharam Umuozocha in Etche Local Government Area.
In the ancient community, potable water remains a pipe dream with ponds as the only source of water. Neither has it been connected to the national grid for electricity since the nation gained independence. There is also no health facility in the community.
Yet of all the developmental challenges that are of concern to stakeholders and residents of the communities, the absence of a primary school and the sorry state of their only secondary school are the cause of the residents’ biggest headache on a daily basis.
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The community primary school, Umuozoche has totally collapsed. All the roofs covering the buildings, including the classrooms, have been blown off. Some structures have since caved in. Trees and weeds have taken over the school as rodents, snakes and other bush animals assume the roles of pupils.
Teachers have since deserted the community primary school, abandoning the pupils. Parents who can afford the bills are now compelled to relocate their children to the private primary schools in the area.
Amid tears, Elder Umunagbu Samuel, who spoke for the chief of Umuozocha community, Chief Emmanuel Agughara, lamented the lack of primary school in the community. He said the pupils were stranded after their school’s structures collapsed and sacked the teachers.
Samuel said the primary school, which was founded in 1952, was functional until 2000. He said from the year 2000, however, the buildings in the school started collapsing following lack of government’s attention.
Samuel noted that the school was bubbling with high population of pupils but the teachers withdrew their services when its dilapidation endangered their lives. He said the pupils finally stopped coming when all the teachers failed to turn up.
He said: “Before the school started having problems of dilapidated buildings and lack of teachers, the pupils were very many and all the classrooms were filled up. But when they were coming to school and there were no teachers to teach them, coupled with lack of needed facilities to arouse their interest, they stopped coming.”
Samuel said the community’s leadership made many appeals to the state government to intervene and save the children but their efforts yielded no positive results. He said: “The community made serious efforts to make sure that the school is restored to what it was supposed to be. The community has written and submitted applications requesting the government to come to the aid of the school irrespective of what the community has been doing themselves.
“The efforts made by the community to maintain the school was not enough and that is why the school eventually collapsed.
“Apart from writing letters, we also went in person to express our views and problems. We went to the local government many times but all they said was ‘we have heard you, we would look into it’. But they have not done anything tangible.”
But Samuel says the entire community is still begging the government to intervene and bring back the primary school. He said the situation had increased the number of children lacking interest in education.
The Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman of Umusharam, Igbodo, Comrade Uzoma Samuel Chukwunenye, expressed fear over the rising apathy of children towards education. He blamed such attitude on lack of primary education, which he described as the foundation of learning. He said since the advent of democracy in 1999, the primary school has remained the same.
He said: “Since 1999 when we started experiencing democracy in this country, since the government of Dr. Peter Odili as the Governor of Rivers State, that community primary school in Umuozoche has been in that condition till date, and that is why we are calling for government attention to come and at least renovate the school for us.
“Most of our children here are not attending primary school because their parents don’t have money to pay the fees for private schools. That means if we continue like this, our children will not be able to attend primary school in future, much less secondary school or the university.”
Apart from the primary school, the condition of Community Secondary School Umuozoche has also deteriorated. Although skeletal academic activities are still ongoing in the school, evidence that it will soon suffer the fate of the primary school is glaring.
Like the primary school, all the classrooms are uninhabitable. But all the junior and senior students squeeze themselves into one block of classroom, which was renovated by the community.
One of the secondary school teachers, who spoke in confidence, lamented the sorry state of the school. He said the only block of classroom available has a leaking roof, adding that whenever it rains, the students and their books are soaked.
He said: “This is how dilapidated our buildings are. But under this condition we still deliver our lectures because of the passion we have for the children. So, we are asking the government to pay attention to the school and renovate it so that we can have a conducive atmosphere for learning.
“We expect our children to study higher to become medical doctors and good ambassadors of the nation. But that will be difficult if we don’t give them the right enabling environment. So we are urging the government to remember the school and give it a good facelift so that we can be happy, the students too can be happy and the nation can be happy.
“When it rains in school, we would be running helter-skelter because the roof for this block that the community managed to repair is still faulty. It will soak the books of the students and no learning will take place because the classrooms will be flooded and impossible to manage because of the water. It’s really not funny.”
It was observed that significant part of the school premises had been overtaken by trees and vegetation. Even the principal’s quarters are now occupied by rodents, snakes and other bush animals.
The teacher said: “Those ones are gone. It is only rats and other animals that enjoy that place because it is no go area for humans. There are no quarters for the teachers and we don’t even have a toilet facility.
“In this 21st Century, we still ease ourselves in the bush; both students and the teachers. So it is as bad as that.
“Going to the bush to ease yourself is dangerous. We usually encounter reptiles and some other things could happen.
“But we thank God He has been showing us mercy that we have not recorded any casualty. Let the government help us. We are also human beings.”
Getting to the school every day from Port Harcourt has not been easy for the teachers. There is no accommodation for the teachers who live in the Rivers State capital city hence they spend about N4,000 daily on transportation. They struggle to teach the students without basic facilities like library and laboratory.
The teacher said: “I don’t live in the community. I come from outside everyday and the transportation is very exorbitant.
“To come here once costs between N3,000 and N4,000. Multiply that by how many days. So it’s really not funny.
“But if there were quarters, at least it would be easier for the teachers to reside here and do all that is required of them.
“All the basic learning facilities are lacking in the school. We don’t have any functional laboratory. There is no sign of a laboratory or library.
“You were talking about computers; the children have not even seen it here before. They don’t have an idea except they have seen it elsewhere, but not in this school.”
Another secondary school teacher, who also spoke in confidence, said many teachers abandoned the school, leaving a few of them to teach all subjects and all classes even outside their areas of specialization.
She said: “When I came here newly, there were many teachers. They came and met the environment and many of them were not comfortable so they left.
“But for us, we saw that the best thing is not for us to leave and we decided to manage and stay.
“Before we got the job, we were all in Port Harcourt also looking for greener pastures. And as God would have it, we were employed here.
“For those of our colleagues who were here but left, they decided to find schools close to where they are.
“For us, we saw that leaving this place was not the best thing to do and we decided to remain, and that is making us spend more than N3,000 daily based on the current economic challenges.
“Initially we had teachers in all subject areas, but because some of them couldn’t stay, they decided to leave. Those of us who have refused to leave have no option but to augment in some of those subjects without teachers.
“As you can see, I teach from SS1 to SS3 and some of my colleagues also teach outside their areas of specialization. They also handle some other subjects that other teachers would have handled ordinarily.”
Iheanyichukwu Divine, the Senior Prefect of Community Secondary School Umuozoche Igbodo, lamented the ordeal of the students, saying their lives were in danger.
He said: “When the rain is falling, it leaks from the sheets into the classrooms, and sometimes we even run from one desk to the other for safety
“Sometimes when we are cutting grass in the school we usually see dangerous snakes, and if you don’t run away, they can bite.
“Last term, while we were in class, we saw a snake coming down from the roof and everybody ran out from the class. I don’t know how the snake ran away. But we did not kill it.
“I want the government to come and rebuild our school. Almost all the buildings have fallen. Let the government come and rebuild them so that our school would be in order.”
Johnson Ledum Bubari, who is the Chapel Prefect, also said the school does not have Physics and Economics teachers.
He said: “Our teachers are not enough. I have not seen the Physics teacher since I got to SS3 and also the Animal Husbandry, even Economics, I have not seen them. We are managing the subjects we see for now.
“We need better classrooms because anytime our teachers are teaching us and rain falls, it always soaks the blackboard and there will be no way to write. When it rains, everywhere in the classrooms is usually flooded.”
But prominent people, who had occupied political offices in the state government graduated from the schools. The CDC Chairman, Chukwunenye, said the school had produced a local government chairman and an incumbent member of the House of Assembly.
He pointed out that a former Commissioner for Agriculture, who served in the administration of former Governor Wike hails from the area and graduated from the school.
Speaking about prominent persons that graduated from the community schools, Chukwunenye said: “This school has produced a National Assembly member, the late Jerome Eke. It has produced a local government chairman and an existing Assembly member, Hon. Ignatius Onwuka, the member representing Etche Constituency 1. “This school has also produced a Commissioner for Agriculture, Charles Nwogu, who served in the government of Nyesom Wike, who is also a son of this community. Throughout his government, nothing had been done.”
Chukwunenye insists that the road to the community is so deplorable that each time the rain falls, it becomes inaccessible.
He said: “If I say that this kind of road is not in this state, I don’t think that I’m lying. The major road is blocked and people are passing through here. The road is manageable now because for one week there has been no rain here. If there is rain, you cannot pass the road.
“Our women are suffering on that road. Our aged fathers, even the youths are suffering. People are wounding themselves on that road daily. We need the government to come and help us.
“Every December, the community usually spend about N2 million in grading that road. That is why if I see all these big trucks using the road, I am always annoyed because big trucks destroy the road quickly.
“And now with the cost of diesel, as we are planning to grade this road this Christmas, we will spend nothing less than N3 million.
“But we have a government and these are the things that they are supposed to do for us. That is why we elected them into different offices.
“In this community, we have four polling units that have about 5000 voters, but we vote for them and after all, nothing will be done.
“So we need the government to come and help us to renovate our primary and secondary schools. We don’t have enough teachers, we don’t have a library where students can read, no water in our schools, no hostel.
“Our schools are not fenced. You can enter the school from any direction and also leave the school from any direction. There is also no toilet for the children and the teachers.
“We are part of the state. At times I ask myself if this area we are is part of Rivers State, because if you go to other schools, you see that their schools have been renovated. But ours, since it was established in 1980, nothing has ever been done there again.” Elder Samuel, who spoke earlier, further raised the alarm that children of Rivers origin from the communities are gradually losing their interest in education. He begged the government to urgently save the situation.
He said: “We are begging the government to remember our schools. They are in a very bad state. They should help us fix the schools and send us teachers for the sake of our children. The primary school has only one teacher. The headmaster cannot manage six classes alone.
“As a result of this, the children found it difficult to come to school and they lost their interest, since they did not see teachers to teach them as required.
A non-political pressure group, Sharam Abroad Residents, which is working for the development of the community, said it had written many letters to the local government chairman, Obinna Anyanwu, on the plights of Umusharam Umuozoche, to no avail.
Chibuike Akujobi, the group’s Assistant Publicity Secretary and Coordinator, Diaspora Wing, said: “We wrote a letter to the former Governor and it was delivered. Since then there has been no response.
“We have written many letters to the local government Chairman, Dr. Obinna Anyanwu, but to no avail.
“Because of the dilapidated state of our schools, most of our children are out of school and on the streets. Some of them are taking different substances just because there is no place to call a school where they can be educated for them to know the dangers of some of those substances they are taking.
“We are calling on the government to come and renovate the existing schools which we had years back that were functioning but today are no longer functioning.
“We are calling on the executive governor of Rivers State, Sir. Siminalayi Fubara, and the Chairman of Etche Local Government Area, Hon. Obinna Anyawu, to help us.
“We are not calling on them to be paying us salaries, we are only appealing to them that they should use the money generated in Etche and in our community here to renovate the school for our brothers, our siblings and our children to go back to the classroom.”
Akujobia observed that the community’s lack of roads and health facilities have increased the mortality rate in the area.
He said: “The mortality rate in this place is high because we don’t have access to healthcare facilities. Imagine a community like this, there is no single health centre, our people have to travel from here to Port Harcourt before we can access healthcare facilities.
“We are also calling on the government to demand electricity. We have not had electricity since the inception of Nigeria. Today, Nigeria is 63 years old and we have never seen electricity in this community.
“Our people fetch drinking water from the ponds in the bush, because there is no borehole water. We don’t have access to water.
“We are also appealing to the government to give us an access road. A journey of 35 minutes turns to over two hours just because there is no access road. So we are begging the federal government to come to our aid.”
Investigations, however, revealed that there has been massive renovation of schools across the state by the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who is barely five months in office. It was also learnt that contracts for other school renovation projects had been awarded and works on them will soon take off.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Chinedu Mmom, said Fubara was passionate about education and would not abandon any community in the state. He confirmed that massive renovation of schools was ongoing in the state and appealed to communities, whose schools were yet to be renovated, to exercise patience.
He said: “Many schools are undergoing renovation across the state and contracts for others had been approved and work will soon start on them. We went round the state to carry out a need assessment and we visited all affected communities. We won’t abandon any community”.
