Wife of the Edo State Governor, Betsy Obaseki and Enugu State Deputy Governor Cecelia Ezeilo and other dignitaries will today, (Wednesday) in Enugu State, inaugurate a N100m school project, initiated by the Group Managing Director of Afrinvest West Africa, Ike Chioke.
The event, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Principal Consultant, Plexus Media Interlinks, Ozioma Ubabukoh, is to hold on the sidelines of the Obioma Christmas Carnival, beside St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Obioma Kingdom, at 12noon.
Obaseki and Ezeilo are also to lead other guests to grace the unveiling of the newly remodeled Central Primary School, which is located in Obioma Kingdom of Udi Local Government Area, of Enugu State.
The statement quoted Chioke, who is also the Prince of Obioma Kingdom, as saying that “the project seeks to greatly improve the learning condition of pupils in the community and neighbouring towns.”
“With the continuous decline in the quality of education in Nigeria, I decided to deliver learning materials to support pupils and sponsor skill acquisition programmes in my hometown of Obioma in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State. These little steps have led to a bigger vision of remodeling the Central Primary School in Obioma Kingdom” the statement added.
Afrinvest CEO explained that the initial thinking about remodeling the school was in recognition that education is critical to development.
“My view about life is that you cannot enlighten people without educating them, and the most important part of that education is at the primary level.
“Once kids can get a decent education at the primary school level, then it is easier. And by the time they get to secondary school, they already have an idea of what they want to go into, whether vocational or skills acquisition.”
“My hope is that ultimately, the school will have the ability to touch lives and impact the kingdom of Obioma and farther afield. The physical infrastructure will start the transformation of education in Obioma, which others can imitate to do similar things across their own communities,” Chioke added.
He also hinted that there were plans to put in place a playground for kindergarten and retouch the existing village football field to a standard football pitch where students can play and organize competitions.
Rebuilt in a ‘U’ shape structure, the remodeled school is designed to take up to 35 – 40 pupils in a class, having the comfort of ceiling fans, light fittings and electrical teaching boards.
The donour revealed that the workstation of the remodeled is equipped with 30 computers, while the library has capacity to accommodate not less than 56 pupils. This, Chioke said would encourage learning and basic research by students.
Chioke also informed that there is also the plan to install solar power for constant power supply in the daily activities of the school.
“Founded in 1941, the remodeled primary school will provide a decent and conducive learning environment for the people of Obioma Kingdom and environs as well as aid the development of education in Nigeria.
“It is designed to have eight blocks of classrooms for about 300 pupils, a library with a sitting capacity for 56 pupils, a clinic, an Information Communications Technology centre, a conference hall, a staffroom for teachers, head teacher’s office as well as male and female restrooms” Ubabukoh explained in the statement.