Follow Us on Google
We missed exams, lost two terms – teachers, pupils, students
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
Primary and secondary schools in Amasiri, Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, have reopened after a four-month curfew imposed on the community by the state government over the war involving the community, Akpoha and Okprojo, Oso Edda, in Afikpo and Edda local government areas of the state, respectively, which led to the beheading of four persons.
The curfew was imposed on the community on 31 January 2026 and lifted last Tuesday, 5 May 2026, after the State Security Council meeting presided over by Governor Francis Nwifuru in his office at the Centenary City, Government House, Abakaliki, the state capital, with chiefs in attendance.
Daily Sun visited the community last Thursday and saw students and pupils in some schools in the area, though only a few of them and their teachers.
An SS3 student of Ekumaubaghala Memorial Secondary School in the community, Idam Ugochi, lamented that the curfew had negatively affected her studies and her WAEC examinations.
“We suffered much during the lockdown, we saw hell. We were starving and there was no food to eat and we needed to write our WAEC. We had to be trekking to Ehugbo, a community far from Amasiri where we registered for WAEC and we were doing this everyday under hot sun.
“I feel happy that the curfew has been lifted but my joy is not complete because we need our people who are in prison custody over the crisis to be released,” she said.
She called for the release of those arrested, prosecuted and detained in correctional centres to ensure lasting peace in the community.
“Continued detention of our people in prison custody by the government, has made many things not to be functioning. Our markets are still not functioning, many shops are still locked as you can see because people arrested and detained in prison have not been released.
“Government should please release our people that are in prison custody so that everything will take normal shape in this our community. My uncle is one of those in prison custody and he is the only child of his mother and because of his detention, my grandmother who is his mother, is not feeling fine, she is very sick and she may die if my uncle is not released.
“We lost many people in our community during the curfew, we lost many souls. Government should release those that are still alive, they should release them so that everything will take shape,” she lamented.
Also speaking, a JSS3 student of the school, Okpara Daniel, lamented the lockdown.
“Our schools were shutdown during the curfew and we were not learning again. We were not attending schools.
“We didn’t even register for our Junior NECO and other exams we supposed to write as JSS 3 students. It is now that we are registering for these exams and we have even missed three weeks in this third term before the government lifted the curfew on our community.
Other News
“We are happy for the lifting of the curfew because we would have equally missed this third term if it was not lifted. I feel very happy about it and I am happy that I am back to school to continue my studies,” he said.
Junior Principal of the school, Okpara Agatha, said the school has missed two sessions as a result of the curfew.
She lamented that the community lost many lives during the lockdown and thanked God she survived the situation.
“We thank God that the curfew has been lifted and students are coming. Hopefully, by Monday, everything will be normal. So, students are coming small small and we are teaching them.
“We have missed the next session and they didn’t write their Junior NECO. So, they missed that one. So, what we are running around is to make sure they write the Junior NECO and that’s why I have been running around for it, to register them.
“The students lost second term. Second term is done and dusted but we did not do it and this is the third week for third term. In this third term, we have even missed first and second week and third week of it has already ended.
“We lost many lives and business during the curfew. If you go out, you will see how everywhere is, nothing is going on and everywhere is very empty.”
At Amasiri Central School, only four pupils from the same family – Enyiukpo Uchenna, Primary 6; Enyiukpo Chinonso, Primary 3; Enyiukpo Chimaobi, Primary 3; and Enyiukpo Michael, Primary 1 – were seen without any teacher in the school when Daily Sun visited.
Speaking to the reporter, Enyiukpo Uchenna lamented the low attendance of pupils in the school and called on other pupils to resume.
“I and my three siblings as you can see, are the only pupils in this Amasiri Central School. Our colleagues are still in various places they ran to with their parents because of the curfew the government imposed on community in February this year.
“Our teachers have not also come back but four of us are here in the school waiting for our teachers to come and start teaching us.
“We didn’t write first and second term exams because of the curfew. We missed two terms and this third term, we have already missed three weeks because the curfew was just lifted on Tuesday this week.
“We want to start learning, we have missed a lot in our studies. Our teachers should start teaching us and our colleagues should return to school. I feel very happy now the government has directed us to start school,” he said.
