An Anambra State border community, Awlaw in the Oji River Local Government Council Area of Enugu State has been named as the worst community in the South-East geo-political Zone.

The community, therefore, blames the government for the deteriorating state of numerous school, health and road infrastructures as well as abject poverty among the indigenes.

Under the umbrella of the Awlaw Strategic Community Development Initiative, (ASCODI) community leaders and stakeholders expressed concern over the uninhabitable condition of Awlaw High School, Community Secondary School Awlaw, and the Awlaw Health Centre and Maternity, which they said have been taken over by rodents and other dangerous animals.

Touched by the sorry state of the community, the founder of Center for Strategic Leadership and Youth Orientation (CENSTLEYO), Comrade Felix Imah, in company of Agusi Levi, Okafor Chukwumah, and Ichie Uche Christopher and Hon Donatus Maduka undertook an inspection tour of these dilapidated infrastructures to assess the level of decay.

Imah briefed newsmen on his impression, recalled that the community funded the construction of these infrastructures in the 1980s and handed them over to the government to manage and maintain.

He concluded at the end of the tour that the community is short-changed and in dire need of infrastructural rehabilitation and social re-orientation.

For instance, at the expansive premises of the former Awlaw Technical College now Community Secondary School, Isiama – Awlaw built by the community in 1982, its buildings are in total dilapidation.

Also, the walls of the buildings are cracked and the roofs blown away by winds. Also, the school’s class rooms of the four blocks have been vandalized, to the point that there are currently no doors, window panes, chairs, lockers and tables.

The ASCODI Coordinator and the Founder of CENSTLEYO revealed that, despite these poor state of infrastructures, students still attend classes of the school in session, “but withdraw during the rainy season because they get drenched in rain water.

Going further, Imah said: “As you can also see, the entire compound is overgrown by weeds and rodents have taken over the spaces. in fact thick forests, and that makes discerning minds wonder what is happening.

He expressed worry that normal conducive environment for teaching, learning and building good character as citizens and impacting positively on society are found wanting.

Similar ugly pictures were painted at Awlaw High School established in 1980 when it had its first intake of students. There, the blocks in the entire school had neither doors nor windows and the Principal’s Office and staff quarters have been abandoned and overgrown by weeds.

Imah recalled: “The irony is that when the school took off, it had a functional and stable electricity supply, a functional borehole, the staff quarters , staff room, the principal’s office and quarters, and the library were in place, but today everything has been vandalised,” he said.

He described the schools as the worst in the area, state and even South-East zone. He regretted that the schools that were once the best in gifted-children’s education in the last three decades have become a shadow of themselves where students can’t speak fluently and/or write correctly in sentence of English language.

According to him, the schools risked being de-listed by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) in 2022 as one of its examination centers because of poor infrastructures and learning aids but that the community rallied round to save the situation.

Imah further lamented that the act of negligence by the government has resulted in the complete dilapidation of these infrastructures, calling for their physical repairs.

In addition, he attributed the deteriorating infrastructures in his community to poor leadership, personality clash, elite indifference and selfish local politics which are detrimental to the cause and interests of the community.

He fingered Chief Sam Ejike Umeh, the coordinating President-General (PG) for the three autonomous quarters in the community for allegedly playing crude politics with the destiny of their children in school.

He observed that a concerned indigene and philanthropist, Chief Desmond Ofu had donated 20 bundles of Aluminum Zinc for the roofing of the blocks of classrooms at the Community Secondary School in Isiama, Awlaw since March this year, but the said PG who received the Zinc had seized them without telling the people of the community the reason.

At the Awlaw Health Center, the place looked like a ghost place, with both the Junior and Senior Staff Quarters abandoned, while nurses and visiting doctors had absconded.

The entire hospital building and other adjoining buildings within the premises are dilapidated and in disuse,including the security post, toilet facilities which are in total disrepair. Imah who pointed at a heap of rusting iron beds behind the maternity building noted.

“As you can see, even beds given to the hospital during the Sullivan administration of Enugu state when the health center was up-graded have all broken down”, he said.

Addressing leaders and stakeholders at a post-tour Town hall meeting organised under the auspices of “Awlaw Strategic Community Development Initiative”, inside the GTB Tabansi Civic Center, Ubaha – Awlaw, Imah condemned the what he described as “crude and divisive politics being played by the leaders of the town that have held down community’s progress.

“The PG is playing politics….. We should stop playing crude politics of attrition,but politics of development.It’s high time we started asking questions,” Imah said.

“Imagine now, the environment in our schools is adverse to learning.The training one gets in this kind of environment shapes him. There’s no good orientation. We had in the past organized discussions with those aspiring to represent or lead us on what they can do for us in the areas of education, agriculture and so on.

“We need to do what we call Needs Assessment with the governments at all levels to identify and determine projects of priority in nature they can do for us. But some people thwarted it, (purportedly) collecting the money approved for community projects into their private pockets. When you ask they start threatening you.

“There’s a zonal intervention fund of N100 million per year that is supposed to be coming to our community for development.

“The worst is that while other communities are in the Nigerian government budget register for the disbursement of this money, ours is not , but somebody has been collecting this money in the past four years which will now amount to N400, million to the detriment of our community interests, yet no body cares.

In his further allegations, Imah said: “Some big men in this community go behind to connive with some people within the corridors of authority to divert the money coming to Awlaw for projects”, he alleged.

“That is part of the reasons we organized this town hall meeting to sensitize you because we have become a community discussed in the negative.

We need to ask questions we should and besides,we need to do something that will take poverty away from our midst.”, he said.

He said the group developed a Strategic Plan and organized town hall engagements with political aspirants to extract commitments and facilitate funding through Zonal Intervention Projects and Constituency Projects.

While tasking members of the National Assembly to fulfil their campaign promises, Imah reaffirmed his commitment to ensure Awlaw competes favourably with other communities. Imah said anyone who has criminally undermined the community will face Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies.hold duty bearers accountable,

He revealed to the rural dwellers that a micro credit scheme has been initiated as an avenue to make credit facilities available to them to boost their businesses, stressing that one can borrow between N500,000 and N1,000,000 at a very low interest rate, but will not hold the money for than two years so that others may benefit.

He called on the youths of the community to focus on skills acquisition, education or trading to eke a living rather than falling into temptation of running after big men for unsustainable paltry sum or palliative.

When contacted on the phone, the community’s Co-ordinating PG, Chief Samuel Ejike Umeh dismissed all the allegations levelled against him, describing the claim of his seizure of zinc meant for roofing of dilapidated school buildings as simply a propaganda stunt.

Umeh said that discussions with the donor of the Zincs started way back in 2004 and that the materials were only redeemed in March this year when he received them. and noted that the 20 bundles are not even enough to take care of the dilapidated building roofs.

According to him, they needed to source for additional money for purchase of plywoods and labour, hinting that discussions on how to raise more money either through donations or levy would hold before the end of the year.

He said he has sacrificed his personal comfort and money for the community’s development in the areas of town hall buildings, roads rehabilitation, etc. without asking for refunds.