Flood ravaged Okoloba Federated Community in Burutu council area of Delta State on Wednesday appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, to assist them sandfill the proposed site of their new secondary School before building the structures.
Leaders of the community who spoke to journalists when the delegation from the ministry of Basic and Secondary Education came to inspect the land for the proposed new secondary School, said they were making the appeal because their children no longer go to school as a result of the flood that has ravaged their community.
They lamented that the flood has made their children to skip school for more than a term as all the structures in the community, including the only secondary school, remain flooded.
One of the leaders of the community, Matthias Young who spoke to journalists during the inspection, appealed to the delegation from the ministry of Basic and Secondary Education who came to inspect the proposed site for the building of the new secondary school, to ensure that the site was sand filled before building the structures.
He said this will enable the land to be above the sea levels and will prevent the school from being submerged like every other buildings in the community do whenever there is flood.
Young said that he was happy when he heard that the state government was taking over the building of the secondary School, but however appealed that an Environmental Impact Assessment be carried out before the structures are erected.
“We want to appreciate the state government for the step they have taken so far. But we want them to sand fill the land for us first before building the new structures that will house the school. This way our children will continue to attend school even when there is flood,” Young said.
The Senior Special Assistance to Governor Okowa on Research and Youth Development, Dr Davids Akpoblokeme, who also comes from the community, made the same appeal saying that their children were suffering as a result of the perennial flood.
“I want to join my brothers to appeal to the state Governor to assist us because we have been suffering a lot in this community. Each time there is flood in the community, all the houses are submerged in the water, including the schools.
“You can see what has been done at the permanent site of the NIMASA Science and Technical College, which is just few kilometers from the proposed site of the secondary school. In spite of the flood you can see that this place is not affected because it was sand-filled,” Akpoblokeme said.
On his part, Chairman of the community, Stephen Koki, said, “This is why we are appealing that this time around, they should sand fill the area where the school is going to be built so that even if there is flood in the future, it would not affect the school and our children will continue going to school.”
Earlier, Thomas Erebimiekumo, the Principal Adminstration Officer in the Department of Planning and Research, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Asaba, said they were in the community to inspect the land the community had provided for the building of the school.
He said they were in the community with regards to a letter that was written to the ministry of education by the people of Okoloba federated community asking the state government to build a secondary school for them.
“In the letter we were told that there was a secondary school that was been handled by private individuals since 2011. So Government took over the school from them after seeing their enthusiasm in 2013.
“We have come and we have seen the land. It is a very vast piece of land and it is a virgin land that can accommodate a lot of of projects.
“We are here to let them know that the government is ready to assist them in whatever way they can.
“When we inspected the land we found out that the whole area was flooded and of course this is not perculiar to only the land, but also the whole Niger Delta region,” Erebimiekumo said.
Francis Sadhere, Warri
