PDP chieftain decries use of market square as classrooms

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

Ekiye Akposeye, Convener of the PDP Alliance for Democracy (PAS), has decried the lack of classrooms at Ogobiri community in Sagbama, Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

Akposeye said this had compelled students to resort to the use of market squares as their classrooms.

The PDP stalwart expressed concerns about the state of affairs in a statement issued on Tuesday, 12 September 2023, in Yenagoa.

He said: “It is quite honestly, worrying that in 2023 students would have to attend classes in a market square at Ogobiri community.

“Even beyond politics, this is bad. As a PDP supporter, this is not good for the optics.

“Sagbama has been, for years, one of the strong bases of our party. The news of the unfortunate happenings at Ogobiri is not a good show of our party’s value system.”

Akposeye said he learnt the governor had been briefed about the consequences of such happening to his second term campaign bid and that he had asked his Commissioner for Education to visit the area.

“I am told the governor is freshly aware of the fact children are being taught in the market square at Ogobiri as there are no classes and has directed the Hon. Commissioner for Education who is to arrive there on the 12th of September.

“The common thought is for the APC and its governorship candidate not to be aware of the incidence at Ogobiri hence the hasty dispatch of the education commissioner, but sadly, the Ogobiri incidence has been common knowledge for months and it is not something to politicise.

“The approach is simple and classical: build classroom blocks at Ogobiri and take our children off the streets and markets,” he said.

An official of Bayelsa Ministry of Education confirmed that the Commissioner of Education Dr Gentle Emelah is scheduled to visit the market Square being used as a school in Sagbama.