Community leaders in Tor-Damisa in Donga local government and Chanchanji in Takum LGA in the southern part of Taraba State have lauded the efforts of the member representing the area, Hon Mark Useni, for the construction of classroom blocks and the provision of learning materials within the costituency.
Hon Useni represents Takum/Donga/Ussa federal constituency at the National Assembly.
The lawmaker, through his Educational Intervention Programme, constructed and furnished two blocks of classrooms at Adanmgbe Primary School in Chanchanji ward, a public primary school founded in 1976 but left without structures.
The federal lawmaker also constructed two blocks of classrooms at Government Day Secondary School Tor-Damisa, a public secondary school that was founded in 1996 but lacks infrastructure.
The two communities are dominated by Tiv-speaking farmers.
The head of Tiv people in Donga (Ter Donga), Zaki Ugondu Umah, who spoke with newsmen at Tor-Damisa on Friday, commended Useni for the intervention, stating that the construction of the classroom blocks has rekindled the hope of both students and their parents.
He said, “since the creation of Government Day Secondary School in 1996, no government has constructed a single block of an office or classroom. It is we the community members who have taken it upon ourselves to make shelter for both the teachers and the students to encourage learning among our youths.
“The construction of the classrooms by Hon Useni has rekindled the hope of our children.
Those who used to take their children outside this community have now enrolled them back, having seen that the school has gotten government attention.”
Also, during commissioning of the classrooms at Adanmgbe in Chanchanji, a community leader, Elder Fater Maashi who spoke on behalf of the people of the area revealed that the gesture is the first of its kind since the inception of the school in 1976.
“We are having a feeling of government intervention for the first time. Since the inception of this school in 1976, no government or elected member both at the state and the federal level, has demonstrated this kind of gesture to us and our children.
“We have been accommodating our students under structures constructed with earthen blocks which has scared so many parents away from the structures. With the two classrooms constructed by Hon Useni, most people have returned their children to school here,” he stated.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that the legislator’s Education Intervention Programme has been initiated across the three local government areas (Takum, Donga and Ussa) with the construction of classrooms and provision of learning materials.
