Residents Launch Crowdfunding Campaign to Restore Dilapidated School in Ogun
Residents Launch Crowdfunding Campaign to Restore Dilapidated School in Ogun
Some Ogun state residents have begun a crowdfunding campaign to rehabilitate a dilapidated Odepeta Methodist Primary School, Ipokia, Ogun State.
The crowdfunding began after images of the dilapidated school building surfaced on social media on Monday.
The images showed the building with obvious cracks and supported by wooden braces to prevent it from falling, while the windows, roof and doors were damaged.
Leading the crowdfunding campaign, a Facebook user, Adegbokiki Kamor, pledged N50,000 in support for the renovation of the school while seeking support from other members of the public.
He acknowledged that the donation was to support the efforts of the government in providing basic amenities to the community.
Kamor said, “In as much as I believe that our government should provide the necessary infrastructure for us, especially in areas of basic education, the fact remains that the available resources may not be enough to get this done, given the overwhelming infrastructural deficit in almost all the sectors.
“When I see these images, the only thing that crossed my mind was how we can galvanise the general public to deliver this block of classrooms to our future leaders in far away Ipokia Local Government Area.
“I am very sure of the efforts of the Chairman of the LGA, Avoseh Johnson Akohomeh, in trying to ensure basic things are put in place for the dwellers of the local government. In solidarity with my friends and associates from the local government, I, Adegbokiki Kamor, hereby launch the renovation of this classroom with a token sum of N50,000.”
The councillor representing Sango Ward in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government, Joel Okeodebija, also pledged N20,000 support for the renovation of the school.
Okeodebija wrote, “Thank you, leader and Baba Barakat Adegbokiki Kamor, I will support with N20,000.”
Meanwhile, a resident of the area, Pendosoji Gideon, lamented the infrastructural decay in the local government, stressing that “if you come to my area at Maun, I swear you will curse those in government because no classrooms for pupils to do the needful, let alone those having a good environment.”
When contacted, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Abayomi Arigbabuwo, did not respond to calls made to his line and has yet to respond to WhatsApp messages sent to him.
But in his reaction, the Chairman of the Ipokia Local Government, Johnson Akohomeh, said a recent rain had caused damage to several schools in the local government.
He added that his administration had commenced the rehabilitation of some of the schools while new ones were also being constructed.
He said, “We have over 95 schools in Ipokia. We are attending to some of them as heavy rain that fell earlier this year has caused havoc too and we cannot attend to all at the same time. As I speak, we have two new constructions ongoing within the local government: a block of three classrooms, and the renovation of a block of two classrooms.
“Others, which are being recommended by the educational authority based on the mood and the population of the pupils in that school, are also being looked into. So we are going to take them one after the other, it is not something that all can be taken at a go.”
He concluded that the school will be visited to know if it it would be included in the next project of the local government.
PUNCH Metro recalls that residents of Ipokia on Sunday decried the dilapidated ICT building located at the community’s secondary school.
They lamented that the ICT building, which was meant to provide students access to ICT skills, has become a shadow of itself.
