Shame: Homeless Abuja Government Secondary School Squats With Primary School, Staff Use Shade Under Tree As Staff Room 

Secrets Reporters

(Staff room of the Secondary school teachers under a tree)

For students and teachers of Sabon Lugbe Government Secondary School, the ordeal of ‘squatting’ with a lower school seems to be situation they will live and deal with for a long time. This is because despite their incessant cry to both the government and meaningful indigenes, their tears are being overlooked as nothing has been said or done about their nauseating tribulation. 

Background

In what could be described as a distressed call, sources within Sabon Lugbe, a community situated at the airport road in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, contacted our reporter to share the disturbing ordeal of the only government secondary school in the community. 

According to the sources, the government approved Secondary School in Sabon Lugbe does not have a structure. Instead, the secondary school is ‘squatting’ with the government primary school called LEA primary school. 

Delineating on the ill-development, the sources told our reporter that it was a herculean task for students of the community to go to secondary school in neighbouring communities. This forced parents in the community to clamour for the government to approve Sabon Lugbe Junior Secondary school for them. 

We learnt that the community was asked to lay a foundation of the secondary school structure as the condition for government to approve school for them. Apparently determined to achieve their dream of having a secondary school, the community laid a foundation at the premises of the primary school – which has remained at that level due to lack of funds. 

The sources told our reporter that the primary school is able to ‘house’ the secondary school students because it is new and they are yet to have students occupying all the classes. They fear what the situation will be for the secondary school students by the time the primary school pupils occupy all the classes, calling for immediate government intervention. 

Secrets Reporters Findings

During a discreet investigation in the school, we gathered that staff of the secondary school use the shade provided by a tree in the school premises as their ‘staff room’. 

A senior management staff, who spoke to our reporter on the condition of anonymity, corroborated the ordeal of the school. “You can see that we sit under this tree. This is where we use as our staff room,” he lamented.

The source told our reporter that they currently have only JSS 1 & 2 and they are being ‘housed’ by the primary school since they don’t have their own structure yet.  

“We have very few teachers. I am not supposed to be teaching but because of lack of adequate teachers, I currently teach some subjects,” he quipped. 

He substantiated the claims of the community sources that they had written to the government and well-meaning indigenes to come to their aid but all the pleas have fallen on rocky sand.  

Adding to the voices of the community sources, he again, appealed to the government and relevant bodies to come to their aid to erect the secondary school structure that they had already laid the foundation. 

During the discreet investigation, our reporter observed that there were six blocks of classes in the school compound. It was also observed that the roof of some of the blocks have left their original positions, dangling in the air. 

(Both are images showing the condition of the school)

We also observed that even though there is a borehole in the premises, it does not have a ‘pump,’ forcing the authorities to beg a kindhearted neighbor to be supplying them water across the fence. 

Our reporter also saw the foundation of the block for the secondary school which has remained at that level due to lack of funds.  

(The foundation of the secondary school structure)