The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has renovated a classroom block, structures and facilities at the Community Primary School II, Dikuma-Ama, Okpoama, in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, the Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote conveyed the Board’s determination to foster a strong interest in sciences and engineering in pupils and students as a necessary step toward developing the much-needed manpower for the oil and gas industry and other critical sectors of the national economy.
He explained that NCDMB’s mandate is primarily about capacity-building and local content development and that just as adults are being taken along, it is critically important to think of the future, hence the policy to “catch them young.” That policy, he explained, dictates that a conducive environment for teaching and learning be created in primary and post-primary schools.
NCDMB’s intervention comprises classrooms, fully tiled andfurnished with standard desks and seats adequate for the pupilpopulation and teachers, white boards, and ceiling fans. In addition, there is a library, already stocked with books on shelves, a borehole and a power generating set.
The NCDMB boss, who thanked the Ibeyanaowei of Okpoama Ibei, His Royal Majesty King (Dr.) Ebitimi Emmanuel Banigo, for the community’s support while the project was being executed at the school, also commended the contractor for quality work done. He was represented by Engr. Dokubo Obongo, Deputy Manager, Capacity Building, who cut the tape at the commissioning ceremony.
The Dikuma-Ama community in Okpoama, hosts of the school, expressed profound appreciation to the Executive Secretary and the Board for making “our dreams come true.” Its traditional ruler, His Royal Highness Nimibofa T.I. Dikuma, said the community was overwhelmed by what the Board had done. He, however, requested that the school premises be fenced and a field be created for sporting activities.
Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman, Education Committee in Dikuma-Ama, Chief Stephen Watson, said a field would help pupils not inclined to a career in academics to hone their talents in sporting activities. Such opportunities, he emphasised, would equally help in capacity building and development in the community.
The Community Primary School II, Dikuma-Ama, was built by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) decades ago and had become dilapidated, prompting the NCDMB to undertake its rehabilitation and equipment.
