*Students defecate in the open
*Herders take over premises
By Sarah NEGEDU
After almost 30 years of establishment, facilities at the FCT School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, are in ruins due to lack of maintenance by past administrations.
Students of the school have had to learn in the most unpleasant conditions, as most of the facilities in the institution including classrooms, laboratories and even toilets, are completely dilapidated.
The true condition of the school was brought to light, last week, when the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, went to the school to flag-off the rehabilitation and reconstruction of 19 public schools across the FCT, under the Accelerated Whole-School Rehabilitation Approach.
Recall that the FCT Administration had in January 2024, announced that it was committing the sum of N13.1 billion for the renovation and rehabilitation of 40 schools, under the accelerated whole-school rehabilitation approach.
The Whole-School Rehabilitation Approach was designed to rehabilitate entire school infrastructure and facilities, including toilets, hostels, dining and provision of furniture and water.
Among the 19 schools to be rehabilitated in the first batch of the project includes FCT School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, LEA Primary School Bagusa, Primary and Junior Secondary School Waru in AMAC, Karshi Model School, LEA Primary School, Apo Resettlement, Junior Secondary School, Lifecamp, School for the Deaf, Kuje, Junior Secondary School, Kwali, LEA Primary School, Utako, Abaji Modern Primary School, Junior Secondary School, Maitama, some part of FCT College of Education Library, among others.
The second batch of whole school approach would involve complete rehabilitation of 4 schools which are Government Science Technical College, Kwali Government Science Technical College, Maitama and Government Secondary School, Wuse 2.
The contractor handling the rehabilitation project at the School for the Gifted, made a staggering revelation when he revealed that the school Mosque and Chapel, were the only structures in good condition.
The contractor, Osondu Ekwekwe, disclosed that the school was in total shambles as students have to defecate outside their hostels since the toilets are all broken.
In his words, “In our schedule of work here, when we came to take over 2 weeks ago, we found out that this school has a population of over 630 students comprising of male and female students.
“It will surprise you to know that this school may look good outwardly, but what we have inside is a total mess. The school inside is in shambles. It will equally surprise you to note that the only 2 buildings that are good here is the church and the Mosque and these were done by self-help. People came from outside to build them.
“The students of these school defecate outside the hostel. You can hardly breathe when you go behind the hostels. The water system, the closets in the bathrooms are not functioning. The environment is totally unfit for human habitation. So for remembering this school, they will be very grateful.”
The school which ought to be a model center for learning for extremely talented students, has become unsafe. According to Ekwekwe, the school’s perimeter fence has totally collapsed, leaving staff and students vulnerable to invaders.
“We have a total of 1.8 kilometer perimeter fence that is totally collapsing, we learnt that the herdsmen come in here when the school is in recession. They come here and make this place their habitation.
“We found out that their Director of State Security here reported that it is not safe for the students to remain unprotected so when we took over, we decided to start with rebuilding the fence.”
Ironically, the FCT School for the Gifted whose motto is “Knowledge for Excellence”, now has a total of 16 classroom blocks, laboratories, including physics, chemistry and home economics labs, all in need of urgent rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Also begging for immediate attention are the school’s multipurpose hall, dining hall kitchen, eight semi-detached 2 bedrooms apartments and 3 fully detached apartments that are totally dilapidated.
Ekwekwe, who spoke on behalf of the 19 contractors handling different school rehabilitation, assured the minister that the jobs would be delivered on time and in quality.
“We the contractors signed oath of performance with the secretary. We agreed that we are not going to fail you. When we took census, we found out that all the contractors, 19 of us, have taken possession of sights and work has started in all the schools in earnest. We will complete this project within record time and meet up with global acceptable building standard.”
The School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, is owned by the Federal Capital Territory Administration. The school was established in 1993 but commenced operation in 1994, providing teaching and learning experience in special area of needs to gifted children to develop their innate qualities.
