TRAGIC: Nine Pupils Die While Treking To School

While the current cult clash has continued to claim several lives in the state, Youths and infants of Ewet Offot community in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State have asked the State government to establish a primary school for them to forestall further loss of lives of infants who trek long distances to attend schools in other communities.
Coming under the umbrella of Ewet Youth Development Association, the disclosed that so far, they have lost nine kids who were knocked down by vehicles while trekking long distances to attend primary schools since Ewet Offot remains the only community in the Uyo Capital City without a government own primary school.


In an open letter to Gov. Godswill Akpabio titled “Please Give Ewet Offot a Primary School”, signed by Messrs. Aniefiok Ebong and Alexander Edet, president and secretary general respectively, the youths said despite the free and compulsory education policy of this government, it was unfortunate that most communities in the state will treck for kilometers before they would access schools.

Elated that Akwa Ibom has begun the journey to being regarded as educationally advantage state, they were on the other hand saddened that they were loosing prospective youngmen in the community to road mishaps due to having to go some kilometers to make it to schools.

According to their statement, “Your Excellency, it is no longer news that more than 80 per cent of the land belonging to Ewet Offot was acquired by the state government in the 70s for the purpose of establishing Ewet Housing Estate, without compensation or any provision made for the resettlement of the displaced indigenes, not to talk of providing any reservations in the housing estate for the host community as done everywhere in the whole world.’

‘It is also a known fact that consequent upon the said acquisition, the displaced natives of Ewet Offot are now squatting in the neighbouring communities, even as the village had since been deprived of such social amenities like market, clinics, roads, water, light and primary schools which some other communities within and outside the capital city take for granted.’

“Specifically, roads like Orok Close and Nung Offiong Street which traverse Ewet Offot Village into the Ewet Housing Estate are in perennial deplorable state. Ewet Offot village is also at verge of being wiped away by gully erosion recently created through the diversion of drainages from different parts of the Uyo into the Urua Udofia burrow pit. In fact, the gully erosion is the only project the state government has rewarded Ewet Offot village with for donating their land for the establishment of Ewet Housing Estate.

“Ever since the land was acquired, we had been making effort to attract the attention of successive state government administrations to the fact that despite being the pioneer and the biggest land donor for development in the State, Ewet Offot remains one of the very few villages in Akwa Ibom State without a government primary school.

“Our children, some as young as three years, travel several kilometres to attend primary schools in other communities like Anua, Eniong, Christ the King Primary School, Wellington Bassey Way, etc. because the place that had been earmarked for a primary school was then taken over for the construction of a makeshift timber market. In recent days, we have lost about nine young children who were knocked down by vehicles while walking long distances to attend primary schools,” the group said.

They asked the governor to incorporate their community into the free and compulsory education programme of the state government through the establishment o f a primary school, pledging to provide a land free of charge for the project.

“His Excellency, we strongly believe that our expectations on this project would never be cut short to make our promise of holding the rein of peace on our youths, too ambitious a declaration, because we are fully aware that any exhibition of youth restiveness or violence in Ewet Offot, would have dire consequences in Ewet Housing Estate, nay, the entire Uyo, if its ripple effects would not even engulf the entire Akwa Ibom State. We pray such never happens”