Students sits on bare floor to study in Oil Rich Rivers despite Wike’s claims of working

Nigerians were taken aback as viral pictures showing some students sitting on the floor in classrooms emerged last week. The pictures were said to be that of a school in Bonny, Oil rich Rivers state. The pictures attracted condemnation across Nigerians while others thought they were some random pictures and usual fake news, however things took different dimension when APC Bonny Rivers State issued press statement attached with more pictures of same school to buttress the earlier viral pictures.

The press release was signed by Ransom Pepple, Who is Director of Publicity, APC, Bonny Chapter titled: Unbelievable, Students now sit on bare floor to study in Bonny schools.

The Press release read:

APC BONNY CHAPTER

UNBELIEVABLE!!! STUDENTS NOW SIT ON BARE FLOOR TO STUDY IN BONNY SCHOOLS.

The photographs below, which show students studying and writing on bare floor, depict the despicable neglect Bonny Kingdom and her people are being subjected to by the Bonny Local Government Council and Rivers State Government under the control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In that pictorial eyesore are Universal Basic Education (UBE) students of the famous Bonny National Grammar School in their present condition of learning, no thanks to the lukewarm attitude of the Peoples Democratic Party towards anything concerning Bonny.

For the purposes of emphasis, let us refresh our memories a bit. Bonny National Grammar School is not just a school on the nominal list of institutions. It is one of the most famous and highly respected academic institutions in Rivers State and beyond, which had produced some of the best and brightest individuals in Bonny and other places, who have excelled and distinguished themselves in their chosen fields.

Unfortunately, in their usual characteristics, the Peoples Democratic Party in Bonny and Rivers State have subjected everything about Bonny to resentment and neglect. It is being taken for granted that Bonny is okay, while in reality, we are suffering in silence in the hands of this contraption called PDP.

Today, it is invidious that, Bonny National Grammar School, with all its rich history, fame and glory, is no different from improvised or makeshift learning centres, which can be found in Boko Haram ravaged areas of the Northeastern part of the country.

The APC Bonny Chapter, as a people-oriented political party, is appalled that the PDP and the Local Government Council under its watch have chosen to resort to mindless profligacy and squandermania instead of channelling funds to very critical aspects of life and human development, including education.

To drive our point clearly, we must remind the good people of Bonny that, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recently held its national convention in Abuja. We are not unaware of the humongous amounts of money the Bonny Local Government Council wasted in bankrolling both delegates and non-delegates to Abuja, which ran into millions of Naira.

Because they felt they had enough money to waste, and that they owed nobody any explanation, both delegates and non-delegates, who had no business with the national convention, were sponsored to travel to and from Abuja by flight and lodged in five-star hotels, in addition to other huge miscellaneous logistics.

Good people of Bonny, please let us reason together: if the monies wasted on that Abuja jamboree were to be redirected to providing desks and chairs for our students, would they be seen writing and studying on bare floor?
Does it portray Bonny of all people in good light, or make us proud as a people that, students of our schools, our children, sit on bare floor to learn? The answer is an emphatic No!

Having failed in other sectors obviously, the PDP in Bonny and Rivers State should have tried to redeem its battered image a bit, by creating a conducive learning environment for our students at schools. For the past three years, the Bonny Local Government Council and the PDP has done absolutely nothing to make life meaningful for the people and residents of Bonny.

Curiously, this is a Local Government Council that, apart from having received billions of Naira as statutory allocations in the last three years, receives over 500 million Naira annually as tenement levies from companies operating in Bonny. The three major multinational companies alone contribute almost 400 million naira annually as tenement levies.

Lest we forget, this is a Local Government Area that provides 3% of our national GDP and receives huge amount in return, according to derivation principle, as a result. Yet, there is absolutely nothing to show for it.

Having taken the above into consideration, it is a shame and affront on the collective pride and dignity of Bonny that students of the famous Bonny National Grammar School and other Government owned schools in Bonny now sit on bare floor to learn.

If not for sheer neglect, what would it cost the local government Council to provide good learning environment for our students?

Enter the Governor of Rivers State with the ridiculous question: “Bonny people, are you okay?” And some people, who only think about their wellbeing, say, “Yes we’re okay.”

The Rivers State Government’s disdain for Bonny is a no-brainer. As we all know, secondary education is the responsibility of the state government. Has the Rivers State Government done anything meaningful for Bonny in this regard?

Fellow citizens of blessed Bonny Kingdom, we must not forget that, the endless renovation of Bonny National Grammar School began since the first tenure of the present state government of PDP. For over six and half years since the commencement of that renovation, the project is still crying and begging for completion.

Unfortunately, this is coming from a state government that dissipates scarce resources, which run into hundreds of billions of Naira, in constructing bridges and flyovers on a stretch of road where such facilities are not even necessary.

Now, let us kindly juxtapose this with the critical intervention made in Education and other sectors by the Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi-led Government in Rivers State. The Model Primary Schools he built across the state are still the best you can find in any part of the country. The difference is crystal clear.

As a political party, we of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bonny Chapter, are proud of what the APC-led Federal Government has been doing in Bonny: The Bonny-Bodo Road project is progressing as expected; the Train-7 Plant project of NLNG, of which the PDP-led Federal Government dragged its feet for years, has been officially flagged off and is ready for take-off. In addition, the site for the Bonny Deep Seaport project has recently been approved by the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. It will commence any moment from now.

All these are very clear testaments and indications that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has the interest of Bonny at heart. This is not just a mere statement, but a reality we must wholeheartedly embrace.

As our children at school continue to suffer neglect and abandonment as clearly portrayed in the pictures below, we call on all well-meaning Bonny people and residents to reject whatever that does not serve their interest. The only choice we have as a people is to join hands with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to restore the glory and dignity of our land.

Let us all Activate the Next Level, vote out the retrogressive PDP, and enthrone a progressive, forward-looking APC government for our good and for the betterment of posterity.

The time is NOW!

Signed:
Adolf Ransom Pepple,
Director of Publicity,
APC, Bonny Chapter.