By Davies Iheamnachor

Following the dilapidation in some secondary school in Ogoni ethnic nationality, former students of St Pius De X College in Bodo City, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the federal government for urgent intervention in improving education in the rural communities.

The old boys association, set of 76-81, made this call when they visited their alma mater, St Pius De X College, to deliver their Corporate Social Responsibility to the school.

Speaking, the President of the body, Paul Abbe, decried the state of the facility, noting that it was no longer conducive for academic activities.

Abbe noted that the government had in recent time not given due attention to schools in rural communities, adding that for there to be equitable development FG should improve standard of educational facilities in rural communities.

He said 40years after their studies that the school has become a relic of what it used to be, expressing concern over the delapidated buildings.

Abbe said: “This is a home coming for us. It gives us a lot of nostalgic feeling because we were here 40 years ago and we are in our season of legacy, we want to give back having left school 40 years ago.

“We see that this place has the impression everybody expects. That is to say that there must be some kind of generational lifting. Essentially there has to be training and retraining it is part of what enhance development.

“It took us 4 hours to get into this place because the roads are really bad. It is not worth it, when we were in school here within 45 minutes we could dash in and out, in fact social amenities should be on ground.”

Meanwhile, the principle of the school, Rev. Fr. Anthony Baakel, commended the kind gesture by the 76 – 81 set for the visit and items donated, and called on government and well-meaning individuals to give scholarship opportunities to students to advance in their academic pursuits.

“With the current situation in our country some of this children cannot pay their school fees and look at the environment, instead of them joining one group or another because of their situation.

“There is need for the old boys to help and sponsor some of them on scholarship, currently we have 20 people who are on scholarship as a result of charity from individual and from church, that they should also key in and do whatever they can do to encourage these younger ones.

“In this school we have so many challenges. If you look at the environment we need to upgrade the facilities. We have some computer challenges, you can see some infrastructure is dilapidating, they also need some touch. So, a little thing can go a long way.”