Oil-rich state where schools can’t be maintained

Oil-rich state where schools can’t be maintained

A visit to Akwa Ibom State, especially its capital city, Uyo, may surprise the travellers. Not because of the decorated roads but because of the rate of underdevelopment. Streets are dusty and unpaved, and some are almost impossible to walk on, particularly during rainy seasons where they will be heavily flooded.

Previous administrations never paid attention to inner roads. From Ikono Uyo to Ifa Attai along Oron Road, there is no sign to convince anyone that Uyo is the capital city of Akwa Ibom State. One surprising thing is that Uyo is one of the smallest capital cities in Nigeria, yet it is undeveloped.

What happens in Uyo is not different from one prominent school, St Theresas’ Secondary School, Edem Ekpad in Etinan Local Government Area.

It was learnt that the school used to be a household name in the erstwhile Cross River State. It ranked among the best girls-only public secondary schools then.

Though a mission school, its Roman Catholic background resonates well with the girls. The products of the school were comparable to their counterparts in the country as the roll call of their ex-girls bears testimony to this.

Today, the school, apart from the serene ambience it is still situated, there is nothing to write home about in terms of basic infrastructures. The old administrative block is a shadow of itself. Its dilapidating condition depicts the hopelessness of the school.

The school is urgently in need of a perimeter fence to reinforce confidence and security for both students and staff. All seven hostel blocks have been taken over by a thick forest with one of the buildings serving as a stark reminder of the good old days even as a lonely double bunk bed completes the reminder process.

The female staff quarters are an eyesore though a concerted effort by the old students renovated one of the hostel blocks for use by corps members. The renovated hostel block which was to serve the corps members is lying idle because of the porous security situation in the school community.

Oil-rich state where schools can’t be maintained

The classrooms are not left out in the ruins as most of the roofs have been caved in leaving the students to be crammed into the few available blocks that bear the stamp of UBE. The library is nonexistent just like the male staff quarters across the road.

Edem Ekpad on its own though linked to the national grid has not seen electric light in the last six years because of a faulty transformer.

The information available indicates that the state government had some time last year released funding for the upgrading of the school but the money was diverted by certain government officials to rehabilitate a nearby school in another community probably because the said government hails from that area.

If the state government revisits the school, it will help decongest public schools in the state metropolis and will also complement the ageing Etinan Institute.

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