By Ikenna Asomba
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| Ajoki Secondary School built by NPDC in 2007 |
According to them, the students numbering over 400, from JSS1 to SSS3, have been left in the hands of one Principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva, to teach. Ogieva, they said, was posted to the school in 2008 by the state’s Ministry of Education.
Worried by this situation, the President, Ajoki Trust, Johnbull Ebiareneyin, said in the last seven years, the community has committed over N20m towards the payment of salaries and allowances of some of its youths whom they engaged to teach the students, as a way of complementing the efforts of the principal.
According to Ebiareneyin, several attempts made by the community to draw the attention of the Edo State Ministry of Education have not yielded positive results, as the ministry has not responded to its letters.
The community leader who noted that Ajoki is one of the five Itsekiri communities in Ikpoba-Okha LGA, which plays host to Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Oziegbe South Flow Station, lamented that despite this, the community is still living in poverty as a result of government’s absence in terms of human capital development and the provision of basic social amenities.
However, responding, Commissioner for Basic Education, Edo State, Hon. Patrick Aguinede described the allegation as unfounded and a mere propaganda to disparage the transformation agenda of the present administration of Gov. Adams Oshiomhole.
Several letters
Ebiareneyin said: “Ajoki Secondary School has not had any teaching staff, except the principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva since 2007, when it was built by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, as part of its compensation to the community following an oil spillage. The Edo State Government has continually failed to post teachers to the school to complement the efforts of the principal.
“The community has since then spent over N20m gotten through community contributions to pay some of our youths engaged to teach the students to complement the Principal’s effort, on a paltry salary of N20,000 monthly. About eight indigenes were employed to assist in teaching the school children. Several letters of appeal written to the Edo State Government to recruit these indigenes, have been unfruitful, as nothing has been done,” he said.
“Before 2007, we had only Uwa Primary School, and we were left to send our wards as far as Koko, by boat, to acquire secondary education. Some of our children got drowned on transit, then. When we asked the NNPD to construct the Ajoki Secondary School, in 2007, to compensate us for the oil spillage their activities caused on our land, we were happy that solace had come our way. But seven years after, our joy has diminished as the school is still bedeviled by lack of teaching, laboratory and library facilities.
“Since 2008, only Mr. Victor Ogieva has been deployed here to teach our children and prepare them for the annual JJSSCE and the SSCE. That was why we decided to engage some of our youths, who are National Certificate Examination (NCE) and Ordinary National Diploma (OND) holders, to support the principal. These graduates are lamenting their poor pay. The N20,000 we pay them is not even enough to take them home, so we are appealing to our Comrade governor to come to our aid by employing these youths, who have shown enough commitment.”
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| Ajoki Creek |
Link road, bridge
The community which however, recognised Oshiomhole’s giant strides through his School Transformation Programme (STP), also appealed to him to construct a link bridge across the Ajoki creek or even construct a link road to Ajoki through Ajamogha. “Presently, we have to travel through Koko in Delta State and Ologbo before we can get to our community,” he said.
Situation unfortunate — Principal
Speaking to Vanguard Learning, the Principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva said: “I have been posted to Ajoki Secondary School since 2008 by the Edo State Ministry of Education, but since then, I have been the only one officially posted by government to the school. When I first came in, I was the only one teaching the children from JSS1 to SSS3, until the community rallied to get some of their youths who are now helping to teach the children.”
Ogieva, however, pointed out that “since 2008, we have written several letters to the Ministry of Education, appealing that the community youths be recruited by the state government, but we are yet to get a positive feedback from them. Also, sometime ago, the Commissioner for Basic Education told us that his ministry was making arrangements to recruit the youths since the teachers it posted to the school have all failed to come here, but till date, the community is still paying these youths.”
Paltry salary
Also speaking, Mr. Johnbull Lucky, one of the Ajoki youths who teaches Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths in the school appealed to Gov. Oshiomhole to come to their aid, as according to him, “the N20, 000 which we receive from the community as our monthly salary is so paltry and not even enough to take us home.”
Lucky who joined the school in 2010 lamented the non-availability of teaching facilities in the school saying: “There are no available teaching facilities in this school. The laboratory is empty, the library is empty and the staff inadequate to actually prepare the students for national examinations like the JSSCE and SSCE.
Similarly, Juliet Atuyota, who joined the school in 2009 said she teaches Christian Religious Knowledge, Basic Science and Physical Education.
According to Atuyota, “we are calling on the Edo State governor to use his good offices to come to our aid, because some of our colleagues are already leaving to seek greener pasture elsewhere because the N20, 000 we receive monthly as salary is not encouraging. It is not worth it, considering what we are giving to teach and shape these children into better citizens. Worst of all, we don’t even know our fate. We are not carried along by the government. All we have been hearing since 2009 when I came here is that government will soon employ you. When? we are asking,” she bemoaned.
Allegation unfounded— Commissioner
Aguinede, who however described the allegation as unfounded said, “I want to receive this information with a wave of hand, because this situation is not in existence. In fact, we have no report either written or oral that a situation like this exists in Edo state, considering the fact that we have over 13, 000 teachers in our employ. There are enough teachers to be deployed to schools, so how can it be that there is just a principal taking the entire school as claimed?
“If the community actually knows it has such a situation since 2007, they should have written the Commissioner or even sent a delegation to the Commissioner. Come to think of it, how can just one man conduct exams for students from JSS1 to SSS3? I don’t want to believe that. For me, this is just a conjecture, one of those cheap political propaganda by people who are not comfortable with the ongoing transformation especially in the education sector, by the Gov. Oshiomhole administration.”
First Published on Vanguard May 1, 2014.
According
to them, the students numbering over 400, from JSS1 to SSS3, have been
left in the hands of one Principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva, to teach. Ogieva,
they said, was posted to the school in 2008 by the state’s Ministry of
Education.
Worried by this situation, the President, Ajoki Trust, Johnbull Ebiareneyin, who spoke to Vanguard Learning, said in the last seven years, the community has committed over N20m towards the payment of salaries and allowances of some of its youths whom they engaged to teach the students, as a way of complementing the efforts of the principal.
Community leader
According to Ebiareneyin, several attempts made by the community to draw the attention of the Edo State Ministry of Education have not yielded positive results, as the ministry has not responded to its letters.
The community leader who noted that Ajoki is one of the five Itsekiri communities in Ikpoba-Okha LGA, which plays host to Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Oziegbe South Flow Station, lamented that despite this, the community is still living in poverty as a result of government’s absence in terms of human capital development and the provision of basic social amenities.
However, responding, Commissioner for Basic Education, Edo State, Hon. Patrick Aguinede described the allegation as unfounded and a mere propaganda to disparage the transformation agenda of the present administration of Gov. Adams Oshiomhole.
Several letters
Ebiareneyin said: “Ajoki Secondary School has not had any teaching staff, except the principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva since 2007, when it was built by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, as part of its compensation to the community following an oil spillage. The Edo State Government has continually failed to post teachers to the school to complement the efforts of the principal.
“The community has since then spent over N20m gotten through community contributions to pay some of our youths engaged to teach the students to complement the Principal’s effort, on a paltry salary of N20,000 monthly. About eight indigenes were employed to assist in teaching the school children. Several letters of appeal written to the Edo State Government to recruit these indigenes, have been unfruitful, as nothing has been done,” he said.
“Before 2007, we had only Uwa Primary School, and we were left to send our wards as far as Koko, by boat, to acquire secondary education. Some of our children got drowned on transit, then. When we asked the NNPD to construct the Ajoki Secondary School, in 2007, to compensate us for the oil spillage their activities caused on our land, we were happy that solace had come our way. But seven years after, our joy has diminished as the school is still bedeviled by lack of teaching, laboratory and library facilities.
“Since 2008, only Mr. Victor Ogieva has been deployed here to teach our children and prepare them for the annual JJSSCE and the SSCE. That was why we decided to engage some of our youths, who are National Certificate Examination (NCE) and Ordinary National Diploma (OND) holders, to support the principal. These graduates are lamenting their poor pay. The N20,000 we pay them is not even enough to take them home, so we are appealing to our Comrade governor to come to our aid by employing these youths, who have shown enough commitment.”
Link road, bridge
The community which however, recognised Oshiomhole’s giant strides through his School Transformation Programme (STP), also appealed to him to construct a link bridge across the Ajoki creek or even construct a link road to Ajoki through Ajamogha. “Presently, we have to travel through Koko in Delta State and Ologbo before we can get to our community,” he said.
Situation unfortunate — Principal
Speaking to Vanguard Learning, the Principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva said: “I have been posted to Ajoki Secondary School since 2008 by the Edo State Ministry of Education, but since then, I have been the only one officially posted by government to the school. When I first came in, I was the only one teaching the children from JSS1 to SSS3, until the community rallied to get some of their youths who are now helping to teach the children.”
Ogieva, however, pointed out that “since 2008, we have written several letters to the Ministry of Education, appealing that the community youths be recruited by the state government, but we are yet to get a positive feedback from them. Also, sometime ago, the Commissioner for Basic Education told us that his ministry was making arrangements to recruit the youths since the teachers it posted to the school have all failed to come here, but till date, the community is still paying these youths.”
Paltry salary
Also speaking, Mr. Johnbull Lucky, one of the Ajoki youths who teaches Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths in the school appealed to Gov. Oshiomhole to come to their aid, as according to him, “the N20, 000 which we receive from the community as our monthly salary is so paltry and not even enough to take us home.”
Lucky who joined the school in 2010 lamented the non-availability of teaching facilities in the school saying: “There are no available teaching facilities in this school. The laboratory is empty, the library is empty and the staff inadequate to actually prepare the students for national examinations like the JSSCE and SSCE.
Similarly, Juliet Atuyota, who joined the school in 2009 said she teaches Christian Religious Knowledge, Basic Science and Physical Education.
According to Atuyota, “we are calling on the Edo State governor to use his good offices to come to our aid, because some of our colleagues are already leaving to seek greener pasture elsewhere because the N20, 000 we receive monthly as salary is not encouraging. It is not worth it, considering what we are giving to teach and shape these children into better citizens. Worst of all, we don’t even know our fate. We are not carried along by the government. All we have been hearing since 2009 when I came here is that government will soon employ you. When? we are asking,” she bemoaned.
Allegation unfounded— Commissioner
Aguinede, who however described the allegation as unfounded said, “I want to receive this information with a wave of hand, because this situation is not in existence. In fact, we have no report either written or oral that a situation like this exists in Edo state, considering the fact that we have over 13, 000 teachers in our employ. There are enough teachers to be deployed to schools, so how can it be that there is just a principal taking the entire school as claimed?
“If the community actually knows it has such a situation since 2007, they should have written the Commissioner or even sent a delegation to the Commissioner. Come to think of it, how can just one man conduct exams for students from JSS1 to SSS3? I don’t want to believe that. For me, this is just a conjecture, one of those cheap political propaganda by people who are not comfortable with the ongoing transformation especially in the education sector, by the Gov. Oshiomhole administration.”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/400-students-one-teacher/#sthash.85klLFPN.dpuf
Worried by this situation, the President, Ajoki Trust, Johnbull Ebiareneyin, who spoke to Vanguard Learning, said in the last seven years, the community has committed over N20m towards the payment of salaries and allowances of some of its youths whom they engaged to teach the students, as a way of complementing the efforts of the principal.
Community leader
According to Ebiareneyin, several attempts made by the community to draw the attention of the Edo State Ministry of Education have not yielded positive results, as the ministry has not responded to its letters.
The community leader who noted that Ajoki is one of the five Itsekiri communities in Ikpoba-Okha LGA, which plays host to Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Oziegbe South Flow Station, lamented that despite this, the community is still living in poverty as a result of government’s absence in terms of human capital development and the provision of basic social amenities.
However, responding, Commissioner for Basic Education, Edo State, Hon. Patrick Aguinede described the allegation as unfounded and a mere propaganda to disparage the transformation agenda of the present administration of Gov. Adams Oshiomhole.
Several letters
Ebiareneyin said: “Ajoki Secondary School has not had any teaching staff, except the principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva since 2007, when it was built by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, as part of its compensation to the community following an oil spillage. The Edo State Government has continually failed to post teachers to the school to complement the efforts of the principal.
“The community has since then spent over N20m gotten through community contributions to pay some of our youths engaged to teach the students to complement the Principal’s effort, on a paltry salary of N20,000 monthly. About eight indigenes were employed to assist in teaching the school children. Several letters of appeal written to the Edo State Government to recruit these indigenes, have been unfruitful, as nothing has been done,” he said.
“Before 2007, we had only Uwa Primary School, and we were left to send our wards as far as Koko, by boat, to acquire secondary education. Some of our children got drowned on transit, then. When we asked the NNPD to construct the Ajoki Secondary School, in 2007, to compensate us for the oil spillage their activities caused on our land, we were happy that solace had come our way. But seven years after, our joy has diminished as the school is still bedeviled by lack of teaching, laboratory and library facilities.
“Since 2008, only Mr. Victor Ogieva has been deployed here to teach our children and prepare them for the annual JJSSCE and the SSCE. That was why we decided to engage some of our youths, who are National Certificate Examination (NCE) and Ordinary National Diploma (OND) holders, to support the principal. These graduates are lamenting their poor pay. The N20,000 we pay them is not even enough to take them home, so we are appealing to our Comrade governor to come to our aid by employing these youths, who have shown enough commitment.”
Link road, bridge
The community which however, recognised Oshiomhole’s giant strides through his School Transformation Programme (STP), also appealed to him to construct a link bridge across the Ajoki creek or even construct a link road to Ajoki through Ajamogha. “Presently, we have to travel through Koko in Delta State and Ologbo before we can get to our community,” he said.
Situation unfortunate — Principal
Speaking to Vanguard Learning, the Principal, Mr. Victor Ogieva said: “I have been posted to Ajoki Secondary School since 2008 by the Edo State Ministry of Education, but since then, I have been the only one officially posted by government to the school. When I first came in, I was the only one teaching the children from JSS1 to SSS3, until the community rallied to get some of their youths who are now helping to teach the children.”
Ogieva, however, pointed out that “since 2008, we have written several letters to the Ministry of Education, appealing that the community youths be recruited by the state government, but we are yet to get a positive feedback from them. Also, sometime ago, the Commissioner for Basic Education told us that his ministry was making arrangements to recruit the youths since the teachers it posted to the school have all failed to come here, but till date, the community is still paying these youths.”
Paltry salary
Also speaking, Mr. Johnbull Lucky, one of the Ajoki youths who teaches Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths in the school appealed to Gov. Oshiomhole to come to their aid, as according to him, “the N20, 000 which we receive from the community as our monthly salary is so paltry and not even enough to take us home.”
Lucky who joined the school in 2010 lamented the non-availability of teaching facilities in the school saying: “There are no available teaching facilities in this school. The laboratory is empty, the library is empty and the staff inadequate to actually prepare the students for national examinations like the JSSCE and SSCE.
Similarly, Juliet Atuyota, who joined the school in 2009 said she teaches Christian Religious Knowledge, Basic Science and Physical Education.
According to Atuyota, “we are calling on the Edo State governor to use his good offices to come to our aid, because some of our colleagues are already leaving to seek greener pasture elsewhere because the N20, 000 we receive monthly as salary is not encouraging. It is not worth it, considering what we are giving to teach and shape these children into better citizens. Worst of all, we don’t even know our fate. We are not carried along by the government. All we have been hearing since 2009 when I came here is that government will soon employ you. When? we are asking,” she bemoaned.
Allegation unfounded— Commissioner
Aguinede, who however described the allegation as unfounded said, “I want to receive this information with a wave of hand, because this situation is not in existence. In fact, we have no report either written or oral that a situation like this exists in Edo state, considering the fact that we have over 13, 000 teachers in our employ. There are enough teachers to be deployed to schools, so how can it be that there is just a principal taking the entire school as claimed?
“If the community actually knows it has such a situation since 2007, they should have written the Commissioner or even sent a delegation to the Commissioner. Come to think of it, how can just one man conduct exams for students from JSS1 to SSS3? I don’t want to believe that. For me, this is just a conjecture, one of those cheap political propaganda by people who are not comfortable with the ongoing transformation especially in the education sector, by the Gov. Oshiomhole administration.”
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/05/400-students-one-teacher/#sthash.85klLFPN.dpuf
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