The Central School Obudi Agwa, Oguta Local Government Area (formerly St. Theresa Primary School), is fast becoming dilapidated due to poor maintenance of the physical infrastructure, poor Government presence, poor enrollment, and the complete neglect of the premises.A visit by an Inside Agwa correspondent on Saturday, 21 September 2024, revealed the abject neglect of the school that has produced some of the important men and women in Obudi, and Agwa at large.The school, which is located along Obudi/ Egbema road leading to Umuomi/Obeama/Obeakuma/ Amakohia Ubi, is credited with two separate five-block classrooms, the Rochas “One Ward, One Modern Storey Building Classrooms,” and another structure with three classrooms, exam hall, and administration offices.The environmental optics of the school alone are laughable. The entire area was overgrown with bushes and not conducive for any learning to take place. The doors and windows of the One-Store building classrooms built by the Owelle Rochas Okorocha’s administration were vandalized, the roof was pulled off by rain wind, and the floors were broken. Due to the poor state of the buildings, one of the roofs of the five-block classrooms where the pupils currently crowd themselves to learn at the time of writing this news, is opened, which could lead to further damage if not fixed. IAN’s effort to reach out to the Head Master of the School through a phone call, Mr. Akalador, who hails from Mgbala Agwa Autonomous Community, did not connect.
According to the President-General of Obudi Autonomous Community, Chief Vitalis Chimezie Ekeh said that the reason why the school is facing these challenges is understandable to everyone free-born of Agwa and Oguta.
“You know that this school used to be the center of activities before now, but since the insecurity started, it has affected its fortunes. How do you expect a community where the King was murdered along with two others in his palace by non-state actors to be whole? How can you expect a clan that has been in exile for two years to have a good structure at home? Are you not aware that the crisis claimed a lot of lives and multi-million investments of the Obudi and Agwa people? What you are seeing is a metaphor for the setback that the entire Agwa is currently facing, in which all hands must be on the deck to rebuild the broken walls of Jericho.
“We thank God for the relative peace that is taking place which must be sustained. Agwa Central Union (ACU), the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Diocese’s Priestly Agwa Peace Committee, Obudi Peace Committee (OPC), and other group’s efforts in bringing relative peace in Obudi and Agwa generally should be commended.
Ekeh used the opportunity to call on our Governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, to come over to Agwa and help us. We need a security presence to protect the clan; Agwa needs good roads, electricity, functional primary health centers, and hospitals.
I want to equally appeal to Obudi sons and daughters to come together and redeem the images of the community and the school.
“Despite stating the obvious, Obudi Agwa people can fix Central School and make it conducive for learning. This could happen by some good-spirited individuals donating for the clearing of the overgrown grass, a situation that exposes our children to snake bites and other harmful creatures that could be living inside the grasses.
For our brothers who are perpetuating the community with this level of carnage, we plead with you to sheath your swords and embrace peace”, Ekeh said.
One of the pupils of the school, who identified himself as Chigemezi, who spoke to IAN, blamed the situation on poor Government presence, poor enrollment, and the age bracket of the school population.
“I used to hear our teachers say that the government and Obudi people are not taking care of the school properties, and I asked, is the government not aware that the school exists? I am in Primary 4. There are not up to 10 pupils that come to school in my class every day, and we are too small to cut this kind of grass.
Many of my mates whose parents can afford to pay their school fees have changed to private school as some stopped coming to avoid the teachers asking them to cut grass. We do no longer play school football, run around during break periods, and other sports activities due to the grasses that have covered up the school.
Mr. Obodo Chidi equally laments over the sad development of the school, which he took a sweep on the government and the community.
“In this type of situation, the government must be blamed first before the community. Basic education is one of the key duties of every responsible government. And in a country where the only government that is closer to the people to perform essential constitutional roles is stripped of its functions and resources, how do you expect public schools to be functional? The Local Government system is created to take care of local institutions by the nature of the government and constitution Nigeria operates, but it has, for long, been hijacked by the Governors.
“The community, on the other hand, is supposed to take care of the government facilities in the community. This is primarily within the powers of the community leadership, either the President-General or whatever that is obtainable in such places as empowered by the local laws to maintain and protect. In my view, community leadership has an enormous role to play in ensuring that schools function properly. It does this through close monitoring of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), assisting the teachers in any areas they can, and reporting to the government whenever their attention is needed in a particular subject.
“Now that the Local Government Autonomy is back, we expect the new Chairman and Councilors will use the resources available to them to work for the local people and fix their schools, roads, security, and hospitals and create jobs for the people.”
