Residents of Iyiowa Odekpe in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State have appealed to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to urgently rehabilitate the community’s only government-owned primary school, citing its deplorable and unsafe condition.
The residents said the school premises had become overgrown with thick bushes and waterlogged, exposing pupils and teachers to potential dangers, including snake bites, harmful reptiles and mosquito-borne diseases.
The school, which comprises several classroom blocks, was constructed in 2010 under the Universal Basic Education Programme intervention project.
Speaking through the Iyiowa Odekpe Landlords and Residents Association, the community described the situation as alarming and called for urgent government intervention to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for the children.
The community chairman, Mr Sunday Obinze, who led reporters and other association executives on an inspection of the school premises, lamented the difficulties pupils and teachers encounter while accessing their classrooms.
He also expressed concern over the community’s inability to raise the funds required to reconstruct the school.
Obinze said it was unacceptable for children aged between eight and nine to receive education in an environment where their health and safety could not be guaranteed.
“It is painful to allow children of eight and nine years old to endanger their lives studying in an environment prone to diseases and deadly reptiles. We need the governor’s intervention,” he said.
According to him, Soludo had promised during his campaign for a second term in office to rehabilitate both the community’s access road and the primary school.
While commending the governor for fulfilling his promise on the road, where construction work is currently ongoing, Obinze urged him to extend the intervention to the school.
“We are grateful to the governor because he has fulfilled his promise on the road. Work is ongoing as we speak. But we are reminding him that the primary school is still pending. The condition is too terrible for our children in this modern age,” he said.
The community chairman also recalled that residents had demonstrated their support for the current administration by voting massively for its return, pledging continued support for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in future elections.
The community’s Secretary-General, Dr Chukwunonso Okoli, corroborated the chairman’s concerns and presented a letter previously sent to the governor to draw attention to the deteriorating condition of the school.
Okoli said the letter, dated September 18, 2026, was officially acknowledged on September 30, 2026, and signed by community executives and stakeholders.
He disclosed that copies of the letter were also forwarded to the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, the member representing Ogbaru II Constituency, the Commissioner for Education, the Chairman of the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), the local government mayor and the traditional ruler of Odekpe, among other relevant authorities.
Other residents, including Chief Christopher Mgbike, Mr Loveday Awa and Mrs Esther Igwe, also expressed concern about the dangers confronting pupils and teachers in the neglected school environment.
They urged the governor to consider the plight of the children and ensure that the school was reconstructed without further delay.
The residents maintained that rehabilitating the facility would improve access to basic education in the community while protecting pupils and teachers from the health and safety risks associated with the overgrown and waterlogged premises.
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