Special Correspondent, OYE CHUKWUJEKWU, who visited Ugbolu, Delta community, writes on the infrastructure challenges faced by the people.
The paramount ruler of Ugbolu community in Delta State, Diokpa Amonu Christopher Okonkwo, has continued to lament the neglect of the community by successive administrations in the state. Okonkwo, who took our correspondent to the dilapidated areas of government-owned primary and secondary schools in the community, including its market that ranks among the largest in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to come to their aid.
The Diokpa, who also spoke on the menace of flood in Ugbolu, noted that the youths of the community had embarked on self-development, to avert the incursion that is threatening the community’s market and about 200 homes of his subjects, adding that if nothing is done urgently, many will be rendered homeless.
Earlier in his address, a senior official of the secondary school in the community who pleaded anonymity noted that the school needs more classroom blocks, given that the current structures are in bad shape.
The school, she added, also lacks administrative block, adding that the teachers and students had on occasions contributed money to fortify the collapsing buildings and the road leading to it. According to her, over N153,000 was spent on both projects, adding that the school laboratory needs urgent attention. The school, our reporter gathered, also has no perimeter fence, thereby giving room for intrusion by non-students and for students to sneak out to the community during school hours.
TheNiche further learnt that on account of the dilapidated nature of the structures in the school, when it rains, most classrooms become waterlogged. Aside the classrooms, the toilet system is unhygienic. There is also no potable water in the school, forcing the students to fetch water from local streams. The borehole system in the school, she disclosed, has been abandoned.
The community’s primary school also faces the same challenges as the secondary school. The headmistress, Mrs. Josephine Ochonogor, told TheNiche that “the school is always burgled” because of lack of security, adding that the classrooms are not safe for teachers and pupils, as some structures are in various stages of collapse.
The headmistress appealed to the Diokpa-in-council to mobilise stakeholders in the community to institute an education trust fund that will encourage the children to come to school.
Diokpa Okonkwo has, thus, appealed to Governor Okowa to urgently address their problems, to save them from the challenges plaguing the community.
