Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting
THE Agbami parties, consisting of Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd (A Chevron Company), NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services Ltd (NUIMS), Famfa Oil Ltd; Equinor Nigeria Energy Ltd; and Prime 127 Nigeria Ltd, have brought joy to students of Special Education Centre, Agbor, Delta State, with the donation of a model classroom block furnished with a state-of-the-art facilities.
Director, Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd, Michelle Pflueger, represented by Mr. Abimbola Olajide, in her address at the inauguration of the facility weekend, thanked the state government and the people for their support and partnership.
She underscored the social investment initiatives of the partners across Nigeria.
“Beyond our core business, the improvement of the quality of life of the people is an important value to the Agbami parties.
“From Lagos to Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, and Kaduna, Maiduguri to Port Harcourt, the Agbami parties have continued to add value through our social investment initiatives.
“Several other projects in the areas of education, health and economic development are either on-going or completed across the country. These include science laboratories, model classroom blocks and chest clinics, among others.
“Today the parties are adding even more with this Model Classroom Block that we
are donating to the Special Needs School. Please join me in applauding the Agbami parties.
“We have, in addition, instituted specialized educational scholarship programs in
support of manpower development in Nigeria through targeted support for medical, nursing, laboratory sciences and engineering students. And we are happy that many of our students in Delta State have benefitted from this scholarship scheme.
“It is our hope that today’s donation will lay the foundation that will enable students with special needs to achieve their life-long aspirations and compete favourably in their future endeavours among individuals from various backgrounds as they complete their studies successfully and develop into critical manpower assets for our dear nation,” she noted.
Speaking to the excited students, Pflueger encouraged them to make the best of the opportunity available to acquire sound education to emerge as upright and highly competent professionals who would make Nigeria proud at all times.
On its part, the Delta State government, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Augustine Oghoro, reiterated its readiness to engage willing stakeholders to achieve sustainable development in the education sector.
Oghoro, who said that the state government would always appreciate all forms of interventions in the education sector, commended the chevron and its partners for the initiative.
He highlighted facilities at the centre to include six classroom block, well-equipped science laboratories, library, sick bay and a big, sound proof generating set.
Oghoro noted that the project was unique and would address the needs of the learners with special needs in Agbor area, adding that the facility would also help to improve the capacity of teachers and learning process in the school.
He urged the centre to make good use of the facilities and ensure that they carried out periodic maintenance so as to guarantee their sustainability, just as he called on corporate organisations and well-meaning individuals to emulate CNL.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Principal of Special Education Centre, Agbor, Mrs. Ezeh Francisca, expressed gratitude to the Agbami parties for the generosity.
Mrs. Ezeh, who said that the centre was established in 1995 by two specialist teachers, herself and one other from the Post Primary Education Board, Asaba, stressed that at the inception, accommodation was a teething problem.
She stated that the centre offered formal education and vocational skills for persons with disabilities in primary and secondary levels and listed categories of learners in the centre to include persons with visual impairment, hearing impairment and intellectually disabled.
Mrs. Ezeh further enumerated the challenges facing the centre to include lack of fund, inadequate teachers and lack of mobility, especially to convey the students to and from the school.
She said that the population of the centre dropped drastically as a result of distance, as most of the students who were living close to the former location could not continue as a result of the high cost of transportation.
In his remarks, the Chief Upstream Investment Officers of NUIMS, Bala Wunti, who was equally represented by Okoro Ehis Brenda, admnonished the students to make use of the opportunities they had to acquire sound education as the nation’s future leaders.