While other children were making their way back from school on a Friday afternoon, Emmanuel Aniede was seen running around the Ikpa Road in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, as he tried to sell every sachet of water in his bowl.
12-year-old Emmanuel, who has been nicknamed “Vinicius” due to his talents in football said he stopped school in 2017 owing to the absence of schools in his community and his parents’ financial incapability to send him to one outside Oku community.
The only government secondary school in Oku has been locked since its completion in 2023, forcing hundreds of children in the community to hawk on the streets or stay at home.
The lawmaker, who represented Uyo Federal Constituency from 2018 to 2020, Michael Enyong, nominated the construction of three classrooms block at Secondary School Oku to battle the growing number of out-of-school children in Uyo. The project cost an aggregate of N56 million. A 2021 report by UDEME, a social accountability project of the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development shows that the school project was non-existent.
Project signpost
Similarly, in 2023, his successor, Etim Aniekan Bassey nominated the project again at N23 million, making total budgeted funds to be N79 million.
The projects and budgets were captured in the Federal Zonal Intervention budgets of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023
A visit to the school in June showed that the construction had been completed. However, the building remains locked since its completion in 2023.
Inside locked Secondary School Oku
Located on Ikot Ekpene road, Secondary School Oku is hidden by Udo Okonkwo market, Uyo. The secondary school Oku was a ray of hope for the residents when construction work first began in 2022.
On a visit in June this reporter noticed that the structure was new, yet the school told a different story; overgrown grasses had overtaken the grounds, and padlocks sealed the entrances to the classrooms. Despite its fresh appearance, the secondary school in Oku stood as a stark symbol of neglect.
When construction initially began in 2022Source; Tracka
The community members claim that the school has not been opened after a year of its completion, and has been regarded as a memorial statue the people stare at. Emmanuel Aniedi is just one out of the many children in Oku community who would like to go to school but are not privileged to.While granting an interview in the presence of his mother, Faith Aniedi, Emmanuel stated that he desires to go to school, but that his family has no money to send them to private schools and the government schools that few children from Afaha Oku attend are far away.
“Every morning, I see my friends going to school. I will like to go to school, I love school, but my mummy always say she does not have money to pay school,” Emmanuel said bitterly.
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Many children in Afaha Oku have quit secondary education due to absence of schools. Mr Benjamin Lucky a farmer in Afaha Oku told this reporter that his children want to go to school every day they see their mates dressed and ready for school. But he insisted that schooling in Oku community is only for the rich.“My children, anytime they see their friends dressed to go to school, they always want to go to school too, dressed in that uniform but school here is for the rich, if you don’t have the money don’t even start what you can’t finish” he said.
A 2019 report by the Federal Ministry of Education ranked Akwa Ibom as one of the states with the highest number of out-of-school children, with a staggering 581,800, second only to Kano State.
Although the constructed but locked Secondary School in Oku is not located in Afaha Oku, the school is expected to serve the entire Oku community, which in turn serves as the only functional secondary school in Oku community and meant to reduce the number of out-of-school-children in Oku community.
‘The school will be opened’, Uyo LGA chairman reacts
The chairman of Uyo local government area, Uwemedimo Udo told this reporter that the locked Secondary School Oku will be opened in the coming academic session “We understand the concerns of the residents, and we are working to address the issue. The school will be functional soon, and we appreciate the patience and understanding of the community,” he said.
He explained that the delay was due to some administrative issues, which were being resolved.
‘The School has not been handed over’ —Ministry of Education
In the quest to find out why the school is still locked after being completed in 2023, the reporter visited the Ministry of Education.
The Director of Secondary and Higher Education, Dr. Ekama Etese, informed that the school has not been handed over to the ministry, which has resulted in the school not being assigned teachers and a principal.
School signpost
“You said the school has been completed in 2023, the question you should be asking is, has it been handed over to us? When you got there did you see any students? Principal or even teachers?” she asked.
“What you saw is just a building that has been completed, nothing makes it a school until we assign staff, and enroll students,” she said
Attempts to reach the lawmaker who represented Uyo federal constituency in 2018, Hon. Michael Enyong, was unsuccessful as the lawmaker failed to respond to calls as at the time of this report.
By Confidence Chibueze
This story was supported with funding from the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development ( CJID)
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