By Jimitota Onoyume

BILLE — THE  General Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, entered in 2009 between Bille community in Degema Local Government Area, Rivers State and Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC/its joint partners to offer overseas university scholarship to deserving indigenes has started paying off for the riverside town and other communities in the Niger Delta region.

Diki NYSC

One of the luminous villagers, Miss Dikibujiri Diri, who is among the 11 Bille youths offered scholarship by the multinational company, has become a spring of pleasure and encouragement to her people. She studied Biology at the high-status Huston-Tillotson Univeristy, Austin, Texas, United States of America.

Diri, who attended Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, graduating with a degree in Biology (Hons) could have eloped after her training, but she opted to come back. Since the completion of her National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, she has been providing mentorship to communities in the Niger Delta region and that is what has stood her out.

Her words: “I could have stayed in the States. I chose to come back to Nigeria because I wanted to experience Nigeria again through different eyes. When you are in a bad situation, you do not realize how bad it is, it seems normal, and so it is difficult to change things. However, when you step out and come back, you are wiser and you do things differently.” She did her one -year National Youth Service Corps,  NYSC, in 2014 at CSS, Otuedu in Ogbia local government area, Ogbia, Bayelsa state, which had an English teacher for only Senior Secondary School, SSS3 students.

Rot in the system

“I served at CSS, Otuedu in Ogbia Local Government Area; I was posted to a school that had no teachers. The students did not have an English teacher until SSS 3. They were only taught by NYSC members,” she disclosed.

According to her, the national service was very revealing because she saw the gaps in many schools in communities in the region, adding, “They lacked teachers for key relevant subjects. Imagine the school where I did my youth service had no English teacher for other arms except SS3.”

“I was privileged to teach very smart students, who just did not have the opportunity to express themselves, so I  decided to do something about the plight of students at home that genuinely want to learn,” she added.

Game changer

What she did is what has set her out among her peers. Her words: “I was deeply touched by the situation and thought about what I can do after my service year to help redress this challenged in many communities. I had to set up Chairein Academy with two staff and a good number of volunteers.”

“It is an educational training consulting firm inspired by my NYSC experience and my desire to contribute my own quota to my community. We train public school teachers and offer a range of courses that teach them leadership skills in class, helping them to recognize the impact of what they do and hopefully to bring back the passion in teaching.”

“I cannot quantify what this experience means to my community. We are a very small community and in fact, we do not even have any influential people in government. So, for Shell to believe in us and to allow us to spread our wings this way is something we can never forget,” she said.

Diri asserted: “They gave us something that is immeasurable. After the success of the original 11, another set of youths from a neighbouring community also benefited from the overseas university sponsorship under the GMoU.”