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From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Agba is one of the component villages of Oziza community in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. There, the indigenes are predorminantly fishermen and peasant farmers but, regrettably, the people have been grossly neglected and abandoned by successive administrations in the state.
The community is wretched and forsaken. It belongs to another age. Even such basic amenities as motorable roads are lacking.
Travelling to the village, which is about 40 kilometres from Afikpo main town, is so nightmarish that one would ask if Ameta Agba is still part of Nigeria or if the people are represented in any capacity of government.
Going to Ameta is like a journey through the valley of the shadow of death. The road leading to the village is like a path in the Sahara desert, which shows clearly that the area suffers criminal neglect. Interestingly, during election campaigns, politicians find their way into the area to blow hot air in the form of promises.
During a recent visit, it was observed that the infrastructural deficiency of the area was pathetic. The people lack pipe-borne water, toilets, roads, secondary schools and standard health centres, among others.
The people’s economic activities are decimated by non-accessible roads, even as visitors avoid the area. Woe betide you if you go there during the rainy season.
Narrating her experience, the headmistress of Agba Migrant Fishermen Primary School, Ameta Oziza, Afikpo North LGA, formerly known as Agba Primary School, Mrs. Evelyn Ogeri Oko, represented by another teacher, Mrs. Joy Ugwoma Egwu, said the structure of seven classrooms was built by the missionaries in 1956, courtesy of a foreign priest, Rev. Fr. Itta, but till date the maintenance of the school has been the burden of the community.
According to her, the school, with 107 pupils under the control of six teachers, has not been given adequate intervention by the governent as its counterparts across the state, which had been provided with some modern buildings and other interventions through Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), and as a result advised that the leaders should do the needful.
“In my school, out of the total number of six teachers, we have only four under the government payroll, while the other two are contracted by the Parent-Teacher Association. Also, we do not have other facilities such as toilets and borehole.
“The school is also prone to attacks from wild animals, dangerous reptiles and even miscreants, since there is no perimeter fence,” she said.
She further disclosed that, apart from the government approval authorizing the school to conduct Common Entrance and First School Leaving Examinations for pupils, no other assistance had come their way in the recent period.
The headmistress stated that the villagers, in their quest to provide their children and wards with secondary education, levied themselves and built a six-room block since 2004 to be used as the secondary school section but, unfortunately, an approval has not been given by the state government through the ministry of education.
“It is as a result of our ernest desire to bring secondary education close to our children and wards and prevent them from trekking for hours while attending school in a neighbouring community that members of the community levied themselves and built the structure but, till this period, it has not been approved by the government,” she lamented.
She further requested for more teachers and classrooms so that the whole nursery pupils who are together with their counterparts in Primary 1 could be separated and provided with quality education.
The chairman, Community-Based Management Committee (CBMC), Mr. Ignatius O. Oko, said that the name “Agba Migrant Fishermen School” was adopted based on the fact that the people of the area are predormintly fishermen who also live close to the river.
He added that there is absence of government presence in the area in the sense that, before now, the villagers did get their drinking water from the river until recently when the women’s wing of Agba Development Union provided the community with a motorized borehole.
“In the area of our health, the only health centre in the area was built about 10 years ago through the effort of an NGO known as Participatory Development Agency, but, unfortunately, the health workers are living outside the community and they could only be contacted on phone in emergency situations. But, ordinarily, the people usually visit the health facility periodically.
“Concerning the bridge that lies at the entrance of our community, which was initiated by the present administration of Ebonyi State, suddenly the project was abandoned halfway without any known cause, likewise electricity. There is neither electricity nor hope of having it in the nearest future even when other component villages of Oziza autonomous community have been enjoying electricity for years. And the attitude of the people who are representing us in the government is not encouraging, as they do remember us only during electioneering and thereafter we will be forgotten,” he explained.
Oko also described the road leading to the village as worrisome, mostly during the rainy season, when the villagers usually engage canoe men before they either go out or come back to their homes because of floods that normally submerge the only route to the village.
“The government had wanted to solve the problem but, unfortunately, the project was abandoned halfway; even as it stands now, we are the only community without a secondary school and the primary school built by the white men is only maintained by the villagers who felt that there is a need for the school” he said.
Assistant general-secretary of Agba Development Union (ADU), Mr. Syvernus Ogbonnia Otu, added that the area lacked access roads from time immemorial, electricity and drinkable water; he stated that the only health centre, which was built around 2008 through PDA, lacked workers too.
“The villagers have been yearning for social amenities since creation and till now we are still appealing for the facilities. Since I was born, none of us have been empowered, let alone benfitting from constituency projects or other assistance from government,” he claimed.
Otu also frowned at the attitude of their people in government whom he alleged do not represent them adequately. He, however, thanked Agba Development Union, Women’s Wing, for providing the village with a borehole.
He equally thanked God over the peaceful disposition of people and the calmness of the area.
