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The palm fruits fell, one after another on a daily, weekly and monthly basis until the bunch is emptied. Birds sit and feast on bunches of palm fruit. Nobody is in the compound to scare the birds which source their means of survival one year ago. The lonely path leading to the school is filled with palm fronds fallen from some palm trees that line up the route.
This is the fate that has befallen Modern Science College, Afaha Obo in Ukanafun local government area of Akwa Ibom State. Established in 2007, the school had more than 200 students. The private school that has churned out many school certificate holders into tertiary institutions and employment market is desolate as the proprietor fled the area one year ago. The 10 teachers, eight members of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who served there and the students later joined their proprietor in search of safety outside the turbulent area due to the lingering insecurity to lives and property caused by militants in the area.
Straightnews reporter who sneaked into the school two weeks ago could behold the dreadful sight of the school greeted by locked doors, dusty desks and sorry tables.
In June 2016, the reporter attended the graduation and inter-house sports of the school. It was celebration galore. The students adorned in their colourful sporting attires took part in all the games and danced exhiratingly. Owners of open stalls and hawkers had a busy day selling their wares. The students accompanied by some corps members and teachers in the march past stormed the sleepy village. The vicinity and neighbouring villages came alive as the band boys drummed and some villagers and bystanders trooped to Ekparakwa-Ukanafun-Aba Federal Highway to witness the scene. Today, the citadel of learning mostly Science subjects is history and the road from Ikot Udo Obobo to Iwukem is abandoned by motorists and motor cyclists owing to the ongoing insurgency.
What is more, the school has become an orphan. All the shops within the school premises are closed.The environment is grown with tall grasses and trees. Palm fronds and fruits filled the lonely path leading to the school compound. Birds and rodents daily gyrate in the undeveloped land and extend their territorial influence to the abandoned two buildings and turn the uncompleted building to their habitat. The school land that sits on two hectares stretches from Afaha Obo abuting Ikot Andem and Ikot Antia.
The reporter trailed Ebebe, the school proprietor to his abode in Uyo. His lamentations ‘’My investment in education has become a waste. Look at the money I put in the school, yet I am begging to survive in Uyo. To an extent, I was established financially, but the militancy has thrown me off balance such that I am jobless.’’
Ebebe, a mechanical engineer from Akanu Ibiam Polytechnic and a PGD student in Education from the University of Port Harcourt recounted ‘’I woke up one day to see a notice pasted on the wall of my school that I should call a particular number. I refused to call the number because I suspected that it was pasted by unknown hoodlums. Rather I decided to leave town to avoid being caught and slaughtered if I would fail to pay. My family and I decided to leave for Uyo.
In September 2017, we left. On reaching Nkek Urua Uko, our car developed fault. I called a friend in Ikot Ekpene who ferried us to Uyo. My Nissan Sunny car was later towed to a nearby mechanic workshop. As at now, the workshop i Ikot Udo Abia has been closed and owner fled. My car is parked outside, abandoned and in a state of dilapiladation.
“The school has nursery, primary and secondary schools. It occupies two hectares with two blocks and one uncompleted building. The school is valued at N50 million.’’
Married with three children ages eight, six and three years, Ebebe’s regrets are myriad “We are squatting with a friend in one room in Uyo. I will beg friends for a little money to survive with my friends, yet they would decline and tell you ‘’I do not have money.’’
‘’I would have been home to to cater for my aged parents whom I have not seen for a year now. They are languishing in abject poverty.
‘’Many of my students (some young other aged) have dropped out of school due to the insecurity and do not want to attend any other school in the area until further notice.
‘’Businesses that sprang up around the school premises have been closed.
‘’I am trying to start life anew, though the cost of accommodation in Uyo is high. I am looking for loan to start a new school where I can I actualise my vision- children ministry. So far, I have trained many children who are working, others are in tertiary institutions.
‘’I want the state government through the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to come to our rescue so that we can return home.’’
With daily recruitment of more persons by the insurgents, the hope of restoring peace and order to the beleaguered area is still forlon. Most well-placed indigenes of the area had since relocated to safer towns and villages outside Ukanafun.
