…Primary School I, Bunu community reconstruction still at roofing stage, 8 years after

…Displaced pupils, tutors sit on rickety benches

…Senator Mpigi faults Education ministry, insists ‘I don’t execute projects

…Community cries out, urges lawmaker to track contractor, officials

By Egufe Yafugborhi

ROOFING  sheets, bags of cement, doors and other building materials worth millions of naira provided for the reconstruction of Primary School I at Bunu community, Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State, a project of the Federal Ministry of Education, facilitated by Senator Barry Mpigi representing Rivers South-East Senatorial District constituency, have dramatically vanished from the project site.

The rebuilding project is trapped at roofing stage for over eight years, while the contractor from the Northern part of the country, to whom the Federal Ministry of Education awarded the project, has remained mysterious since the project took off, working through a supervisor from the South-West and other proxies.

However, a villager who worked as a laborer at the site, hinted: “The contractor has a northern registered address; there was a Yoruba man we called Baba who was the main supervisor on site. He was said to be in-law to the Northern owner of the company. That is the much I can say because I worked there at the time.”

Residents of Bunu, pupils and teachers of beneficiary Primary School 1, Bunu, whose structure was demolished to make way for brand new construction, a  constituency project of Mpigi, then Member representing Tai-Oyigbo-Eleme Federal Constituency, have been exposed to weather elements in the rickety structure built by bothered staff to stem mass exodus of students.

Chairman of the Community Development Committee, CDC, Bunu, Joseph Nkasu, confirmed to NDV that he sighted the building materials when they were brought to the community but could not explain how the materials grew wings and flew away overnight.

It was gathered that under his watch as Member representing Tai-Oyigbo-Eleme Federal Constituency, the original structure of the school was pulled down for reconstruction as a constituency project of Senator Mpigi, then in the House of Representatives.

Eight years after, NDV found on a visit to the school, that the intended reconstruction has been abandoned at roofing level, leaving staff and pupils with no structure to teach and learn.

Community troubled, says Nkasu, CDC chair
CDC chair, Joseph Nkasu, lamented: “It is a big concern to the community. The once busy school that has turned out right thinking Bunu sons and daughters is almost extinct.

“Pupils thinking of leaving the school is an understatement. The school is at the verge of extinction, pupils are withdrawing in droves. Before Sen. Mpigi, as House of Representatives member, demolished the original structure for the failed reconstruction, this school used to be one of the most populated in this locality.

“How many pupils did you find when you got there? It is not an environment children should study. How many parents would let their wards go there? The few who are still there just helplessly go through the motion every day in the open air structure, like Almajiri pupils,” he lamented.

Headmaster, teachers, pupils sit in makeshift tent
Headmaster, HM, of the school, noticeably restrained from showing his frustrations, apparently for fear of landing in trouble if he dares to speak truth to power, barely identified himself as Thompson. He, some co-staff and a few pupils were seated on benches under an open tent of roofing sheets hung on wooden stakes when NDV visited.

He told NDV that Primary School 1, Bunu could still boast of a total student population of 168, a suspiciously bogus figure that belied the few pupils on ground in the middle of school hours during our stopover.

“I understand staff contributed some money to erect this makeshift structure we now use. I came to meet it as headmaster. I was told when they (staff) at the time discovered the situation was that pathetic, they put heads together and came up with that tent we currently use.

“The challenges now are enormous. We do not have staff rooms, no toilet, and no water, nothing on ground to support a formal education environment. And we are understaffed. Though the pupils are children, they are sometimes discouraged by what they see, how unwelcoming the environment is. Some of them are thinking of leaving the school.

“We are also talking to the community and government (state), expecting them to do something because something urgent really has to be done,” he added.

Demolition carried out in 2012- Gbonone
A security official and native, who passed out successfully from the school before the current piteous state, Charity Gbonone, said: “The most painful aspect is that even the old structure in which we studied had barely undergone facelift, wearing new aluminium roof through intervention of Tail Local Government when the unorganised demolition was carried out for reconstruction.

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“It was around the close of 2012. The Senator was in his first tenure as House of Representatives member, even if we did not have the best school building at the time, Primary School 1 sports field was the envy of all rival schools, most of which made it the turf of choice to hold inter-school games. With the demolition, the sports field has been overgrown by grass. No more sports ground for the school as there are not enough pupils to maintain the field,” he revealed.

Not my duty to execute project – Senator Mpigi
Absolving self of blame over the development, initiator of the deserted project, Senator Mpigi said: “Bunu happens to be one of the communities under my federal constituency when I was in the House of Representatives. I saw the need and nominated the school for the project. Of course, it was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Education.

“The ministry through its procurement process and monitoring unit should follow up the contractor the job was awarded to. The community duly gave them a site, they went to site and as we speak, it is left for the contractor and the ministry to actually execute the job.

“It is not my responsibility to execute but as part of my representation, as a follow up, I have gone twice with the community to see how we can handle that thing, but I think the ministry is not forthcoming.”

All the materials just vamoosed, probably sold off

Bunu CDC chairman, Nkasu, however, said: “The Senator may have meant well for the community, but same cannot be said of people to whom he entrusted the project. The project sponsor and contractor, faceless all through, kept the community leadership in the dark as to what they were doing. The CDC chairman, youth president, none was consulted.

“We do not know the name of the contractor, but his (Senator’s) younger brother was a regular visitor to the site and one Burabari John, Community Liaison Officer, CLO, to the project was also his extended relative. Because it is not in our character as a community to disrupt a development project, we allowed them do things their own way. Now they abandoned the project.

“If the initiator of the project, who is now a Senator, has not been able to impress on the contractor and the ministry to complete the job, it tells you how helpless we are as a community to get these people to do the needful. For me, the CLO, Johnson, should have questions to answer as the contractor has completely disappeared.

“The CLO claimed he does not even know the name of the contractor. There were a lot of materials; cement, doors, roofing sheets, virtually everything to execute the project to completion. We saw them delivered and kept in the premises. They all disappeared, likely sold off. The CLO cannot say he knows nothing about the state of the contract,” he said.

Community appeals to Mpigi
According to Nkasu: ”Recently, the Universal Basic Education, UBE, Board planned to construct a parallel structure, not the abandoned one of Sen. Mpigi. Some indications have been made, we hope something concrete comes through from that too.”

“However, we implore the Senator to be a bit more critical by way of oversight, on the relevant ministry to do the needful over the protracted abandonment of a constituency project he initiated as our House of Representatives member. He may be right on the side of the law that it is not in his place to execute, having sought legislative approval for the project.

“But he is the leader we know, not the faceless contractor and sponsor ministry. It is more to his credit and to Bunu’s benefit if this essential project is completed and our children made to study in conducive environment again. For the people, it remains his project,” he asserted.

Vanguard News Nigeria

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