…turns facility into migrant
…relocates students to CCD in Igarra
…aggrieved students protest short notice
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
On Saturday March 16, 2019, students of the Centre for Community Development were woken up from sleep by an unusual sound. One of the female students said she noticed that there were lorries carrying blocks and blocks and blocks.
Out of curiosity, they filed out one by one, only to see an army of masons, builders and a bulldozer march in. Before the lorries were done with unloading the blocks, the masons fell on one of their hostels and in less than 30 minutes they had brought it down.
‘We had to quickly jump out of the place as they were removing the roof. We were asking them who they were and what they were doing but they were like deaf people.
According to the bewildered students, the workmen continued to dismantle the building. Still feeling that something was not right, they contacted their director.
“It was while they were doing this that we put a call through to our director,” one of the female students told our correspondent.
When Alltimepost visited the scene, the demolition squad had dismantled most of the dilapidated buildings on the school premises. A bulldozer pulled trees out of the ground, and cleared the thick morass of dense vegetation that had taken over a major section of the institution.
Investigations revealed that the state government decided to move the CCD to another location and use the CCD for a Project, the migrant returnee shelter. To be run by the Edo state government in collaboration with the EU and the World Bank, the decision to demolish and rehabilitate the CCD was said to be already in the offing after the 2nd roundtable dialogue on managing migration through development programs, which took place on December 5, 2018.
Students said they were not given adequate notice to quit before being bundled out of the premises. They told our correspondent that they had been relocated to an institution in Edo North, Akoko-Edo local government area where a community development school already exists.
“We were not given any prior notice that they were coming. Most of us just returned to school from the holidays after the elections only to find out that they are demolishing our school. Why didn’t they inform us first?”
By the time the director arrived, students were already chanting war songs and mobilizing to march to Osadebey Avenue to register their protest to Governor Godwin Obaseki.
They were however restrained by their director who counseled them to accept government decision to relocate them to a befitting premise in Igarra in Edo North.
Contrary to claims by students of the CCD, director of the institution who didn’t want her name used, told our correspondent that the Edo State government had earlier given notice that it was relocating the students to Igarra.
“I’m really surprised and appalled at the behaviour of our students. How could they be protesting against the plan by the authorities to take them away from this terrible place,” the director said.
On February 13, Alltimepost.com published an investigative report with the headline: Edo State: When Center For Community Development Fails The People Due To Abandonment, written by our correspondent, Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, founder of Bob MajiriOghene Communications, an investigative and environment journalism agency and publishers of Pathways for Development https://www.alltimepost.com/2019/02/edo-state-when-center-for-community-development-fails-the-people-due-to-abandonment/.
Backed up by very graphic images indicating that the CCD had been abandoned by the Edo State Government, the current action by the administration can be unequivocally traced to that report.
Affiliated to the University of Benin, Benin City, the CCD offers a 2-Year Diploma program in Community Development Programs. Terms of that affiliation include provision of part-time lecturers and moderation of the Center’s Examinations and Results.
The Two-Year program is designed to give opportunity to civil servants & government workers to develop themselves in the area of Community, Youth, Sports, Community Relations, Military and Para-Military Services.
Young school leavers like Salami who are desirous of continuing their education to the University degree level also have the opportunity of admission to read courses in Education, Social Science including Public Administration, Law, etc.
Upon graduation from the Centre, they may gain admission to Nigerian and foreign universities with their Diploma. In recent times however, this institution appeared abandoned. When our reporter visited the school in February this year, students lived in unkempt hostels with thick bushes crawling into the hostels.
As at press time, officials of Edo State Government could not be reached for comments on the latest development at the CCD. More updates will follow.
