Residents of Housing Estate Fegge–Onitsha have cried out to the Anambra State Government to take over the Ugborimiri Primary Schools and make the field accessible to the public for peace to reign.
The Fegge Housing Estate residents made the call during a peaceful protest on Tuesday, which saw them move round major streets within the community.
The protesters bore placards with various inscriptions that captured their grievances like ‘Ugborimiri Primary School is a Public School, not a mission school,’ ‘Prof. Charles C. Soludo Please Don’t Allow This Error to Continue in this your tenure,’ ‘Ugborimiri Primary School Field remains the only field for sports and exercise for housing communities and its environs,’ among others.
Addressing newsmen, some stakeholders in the housing estate who have lived for more than thirty years in the community including Chief Stanley Ibom, Mr.Nnaemeka Chine, and Hon.Dennis Samuel recounted how the Ugborimiri Primary School which was established by the government of Jim Nwobodo between 1975 and 1979 as the development of Bridgehead Housing Estate was going, and the school premises were used by different churches and the community as a place of their religious and social activities.
They said the school premises continued to serve the purpose, until recently when the Roman Catholic church laid claim to the school and locked up the premises.
Other stakeholders including Sir Sam Okafor, Chief Timothy Ikezuagu, and Dr. Chioma Onwuasoigwe, expressed sadness that during the handover of schools owned by Mission during the Peter Obi Administration, the committee jettisoned the idea of inviting the general public to assist it with more information that would have assisted the committee to separate public schools from mission schools.
They however regretted that the committee resorted to the Eastern Nigeria Directory of Schools published in 1964 seen as the cheapest route out of the inability of missions to back up their claims with relevant documents.
They stated that the past two administrations in the state deployed executive orders to satisfy the aspirations of the missions without anyone standing for the interest of the general public with reference to public schools.
“Various court injunctions have been issued to the said church to stop work within the premises which was jettisoned. Instead, more structures are being put in place,” they regretted.
A coach in the estate, Mr.Charles Osondu recalled that the Ugborimiri Primary School Field was where the residents used for their training and sporting activities for over thirty years before it was locked up by the Catholic church.
This he said, had prevented the community from using the premises, also making the school unreachable for the less privileged ones, while another sports enthusiast, Rapuluchukwu Chukwuneke said currently under 13 and 15 football are supposed to be training at the Ugborimiri Primary School Field but they couldn’t.
They all asked the state government to recover the school and the field and open it for public use to avoid the matter escalating.
Addressing the protesters, Archbishop Mike Chukwudum in charge of Rock Fire Global Mission who is a resident of Housing Estate Fegge Onitsha, and also the spiritual father of the community recounted the history of Ugborimiri Primary School having lived there since 1972.
He said he personally wrote to the government with his office as an advocate of peace for the school to be retained as a public school because it was serving the public and the only recreation place for them, all to no avail.
Archbishop Chukwudum enjoined the residents to remain calm and prayerful as they will use all necessary avenues to reclaim the school.
