Port Harcourt: A cry for help has been made by people of Oginigba community in Obio Akpor local government to the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Sim Fubara to urgently complete the abandoned state primary school project in the community, kicked off by former governor Rotimi Amaechi. 

The school project which is part of the iconic Amaechi Model Schools sited in all 23 local governments in the state has been abandoned for 12 years with the Wike government giving it little attention in the eight years of his administration.

 With the non-completion of the project, Oginigba community is groaning and its leaders are expressing worry that if the government does not intervene, things would remain the same or get worse. 

Vanguard’s visit to the school revealed that the school is at about 80% completion, but due to its abandonment, the structure has fallen to the elements with some parts of the roof 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 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 our community. And as a result a lot of them are now forced to attend other schools in nearby communities of Rumubiakani amd Rumuomasi.”

He lamented the cost and risk involved in children from Oginigba having to attend school in other communities which includes risk of accident, and high cost of transportation

“We have had a series of meetings with the headmistress and found out that we lack teachers.  In a classroom, we have over 30 pupils causing overcrowding and congestion, a situation which the completion of school II project will alleviate.

“Aside from the cost of transport, the risk is there with little children going all the way from here to Rumubiakani and Rumuomasi.  It is very very risky.  And the cost of transport also telling on their parents. 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.”

An Old Boy of the school Chief John Amadi, who currently serves as the chief protocol officer to His Royal Highness Amb Gershon Odum the King of Oginigba Kingdom, also lamented about 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 during Amaechi time. Amaechi now left. But to our greatest surprise the government of Wike abandoned it even when it had reached an advanced stage of completion. 

“Our appeal is that this school is central to the development of Oginigba community. Anybody that is who and 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 the spirit state primary school Oginigba should 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 the old school one building whose classroom of 40 pupils is now one hundred. 

“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.”